10-Man Chelsea Edge Out Brighton 3-2

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10-Man Chelsea Edge Out Brighton 3-2

Chelsea recorded just their second Premier League home win of the season against Brighton, despite being reduced to 10 men before half-time.

Ten-man Chelsea shrugged off a red card for captain Conor Gallagher to edge Brighton 3-2 while West Ham drew 1-1 with Crystal Palace.

Chelsea recorded just their second Premier League home win of the season against Brighton, despite being reduced to 10 men before half-time.

Mauricio Pochettino’s men were cruising midway through the first half after goals from Enzo Fernandez and Levi Colwill.

Facundo Buonanotte halved the deficit for the visitors shortly before half-time and there was still time for Gallagher to pick up a second yellow card, changing the complexion of the match.

Fernandez restored Chelsea’s two-goal cushion from the penalty spot, but Joao Pedro struck in stoppage time to heap the pressure on the home side.

Brighton were awarded a penalty for a handball by Colwill in the 101st minute but the referee reversed his on-field decision after reviewing the incident on the pitchside monitor and Chelsea held on.

“Crazy — it’s the most competitive league,” said Pochettino.

“The team is tired, we are all tired but overall happy,” he added. “After Newcastle (a 4-1 defeat), we needed to show a different face. That’s why I’m happy.”

Aston Villa striker Watkins headed home a cross from Moussa Diaby in the 90th minute to rescue a point Unai Emery’s team, which kept them in fourth place.

Earlier, Leon Bailey had cancelled out an opener from Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo before Dominic Solanke put the home side back ahead.

“It shows our resilience, but we are not starting games well away from home,” said Watkins.

“If we can iron that out it will help us. Every game we want to win, we are in good form. We fancy ourselves against anybody.”

At the London Stadium, Mohammed Kudus put West Ham ahead in the first half, before Odsonne Edouard equalised in the second period to earn a point for Crystal Palace.

‘Waste Of Resources Amid Hardship’, Obi Faults Number Of Nigeria’s Delegates At COP28

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‘Waste Of Resources Amid Hardship’, Obi Faults Number Of Nigeria’s Delegates At COP28

Obi said majority of those in the Nigerian delegation to COP28 are either non-relevant civil servants or relations of high government officials.

The 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, on Sunday, faulted the number of Nigeria’s delegation at the COP28 Climate Summit in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

President Bola Tinubu had on November 29, 2023 departed Abuja for Dubai for the summit expected to end December 12, 2023.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the ex-governor of Anambra State, described sending over 1,000 persons to the summit as a waste of scarce resources by the Tinubu administration.

Obi lamented the “huge contingent” in Dubai at public expense at a time when most Nigerians can hardly afford food and basic needs.

“Nigeria’s contingent to COP28 totaled 1411, the same number as the Chinese contingents. While China’s budget for 2024 is about $4 trillion, about $2,860 per head; Nigeria’s budget is about $33 billion, about $165 per head,” Obi said.

“We need to de-emphasize unnecessary ceremony and showmanship as a mode of government behaviour. We need to tie spending to necessity and national Priority. A New Nigeria is possible. We only need to do the reasonable and the necessary.”

Meanwhile, a presidential aide, Temitope Ajayi, in a comment on Sunday, defended the delegation of the President to the summit, saying that “President Tinubu and other officials on the Federal government delegation are in Dubai for serious business not jamboree”.

Newcastle Shrug Off Injury Crisis, Beat Man United

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Newcastle Shrug Off Injury Crisis, Beat Man United 

Victory takes Eddie Howe's men above United into fifth in the Premier League table and was the very least the home side deserved for a dominant display that should have been rewarded with more goals.

Newcastle shrugged off an injury crisis to beat Manchester United 1-0 on Saturday thanks to Anthony Gordon’s second-half winner.

Victory takes Eddie Howe’s men above United into fifth in the Premier League table and was the very least the home side deserved for a dominant display that should have been rewarded with more goals.

Gordon’s solitary strike proved enough as he slotted in Kieran Trippier’s cross on 55 minutes.

But the three points came at a cost for Newcastle as goalkeeper Nick Pope hobbled off late on to add to their injury woes.

The Magpies were without 11 first-team players yet were utterly dominant for the first hour against a United side that are still yet to register a win against a side in the top nine of the Premier League table this season.

Andre Onana was in the spotlight after his two glaring errors cost Erik ten Hag’s men in a 3-3 draw at Galatasaray in midweek that could prove fatal to their chances of progression in the Champions League.

But the Cameroonian made an important early save to deny Miguel Almiron finding the far corner.

Newcastle also suffered Champions League disappointment in midweek as a controversial stoppage-time penalty denied them a famous victory over Paris Saint-Germain.

Howe’s lack of options meant he was forced to name the same side for a third consecutive game with 17-year-old Lewis Miley starting in midfield.

But there was no sign of fatigue from the home side as United could not cope with Newcastle’s energy on and off the ball.

Alexander Isak’s effort was deflected inches wide by the excellent Harry Maguire.

Trippier’s free-kick then came back off the underside of the bar as Newcastle were unfortunate not to make their dominance count before half-time.

However, the deadlock was finally broken when Trippier was played in down the right and he picked out Gordon to tap home his sixth goal of the season at the far post.

Ten Hag finally responded only after falling behind as the ineffectual Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial were replaced by Rasmus Hojlund and Antony.

Yet those changes elicited little response from the visitors as United slumped to a sixth Premier League defeat of the season.

The closest United came to levelling was when Fabian Schar blocked Sergio Reguilon’s goalbound volley.

But that incident did not come without a cost for Newcastle as goalkeeper Pope jolted his shoulder in an attempt to save the Spaniard’s shot.

United finally showed some urgency for the closing stages plus nine minutes of added time for Pope’s injury and did have the ball in the net.

However, Maguire was clearly offside as he deflected in Antony’s effort and Newcastle held on to close to within two points of the top four.

Israel Continues Strikes On Gaza As Pressure Mounts To Protect Children

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Israel Continues Strikes On Gaza As Pressure Mounts To Protect Children

At least seven people were killed in an Israeli bombing early Sunday.

Israel carried out deadly bombardments in Gaza on Sunday as international calls mounted for greater protection of civilians and the renewal of an expired truce with Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The Israeli army said it had conducted more than 400 strikes in Gaza since a ceasefire collapsed on Friday, with the Hamas government saying at least 240 people had been killed.

Hamas and Palestinian group Islamic Jihad announced “rocket barrages” against multiple Israeli cities and towns including Tel Aviv, and Israel said that two of its soldiers had died in combat, the first since the end of the truce.

At least seven people were killed in an Israeli bombing early Sunday near Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, the Hamas-run government said.

Israeli strikes also hit the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza late Saturday, killing at least 13 people, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

US Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday sharply rebuked the rising civilian toll in Israel’s eight-week war, sparked by an unprecedented attack on October 7.

“Too many innocent Palestinians have been killed,” she told reporters at UN climate talks in Dubai.

“Frankly, the scale of civilian suffering and the images and videos coming from Gaza are devastating.”

An estimated 1.7 million people in Gaza — more than two-thirds of the population — have been displaced by war, according to the United Nations.

“I cannot find words strong enough to express our concern over what we’re witnessing,” the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Sunday on X, formerly Twitter.

Fadel Naim, chief doctor at the Al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza City, said his morgue had received 30 bodies on Saturday, including seven children.

“The planes bombed our houses: three bombs, three houses destroyed,” Nemr al-Bel, 43, told AFP, adding he had counted 10 dead in his family and “13 more still under the rubble”.

Gazans are short of food, water and other essentials, and many homes have been destroyed. UN agencies have declared a humanitarian catastrophe, although some aid trucks did arrive Saturday.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said Israel had told NGOs not to bring aid convoys across the Rafah border crossing from Egypt after the truce expired.

But the charity said on Saturday its Egyptian colleagues had managed to send over a number of trucks.

 

 Israel withdraws negotiators

 

Hamas fighters broke through Gaza’s militarised border into Israel on October 7, killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took around 240 Israelis and foreigners hostage, according to Israeli authorities.

Israel vowed to eliminate Hamas in response and unleashed an air and ground campaign that has killed more than 15,000 people, also mostly civilians, the Hamas authorities who run Gaza say.

A week-long truce, brokered with the help of Qatar and backed by Egypt and the United States, led to the release of 80 Israeli hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.

But that truce collapsed with both sides blaming each other for violating its conditions.

Israel said that Hamas had tried to fire a rocket before the ceasefire ended, and that it had failed to produce a list of further hostages for release.

Israeli negotiators left Doha on Saturday after reaching a dead end in talks aimed at securing a fresh pause in hostilities.

The Israeli army said 137 hostages were still being held in Gaza.

Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told reporters on Saturday that fresh military action was needed to “create the conditions that push (Hamas) to pay a heavy price, and that is in the release of hostages”.

Israeli hostages released from Gaza spoke publicly on Saturday for the first time, urging their government to secure the release of the remaining captives.

“The moral obligation of this government is to bring them home immediately, without hesitation,” said Yocheved Lifschitz, 85, who was released by Hamas in October, before the truce deal.

French President Emmanuel Macron appealed for “stepped-up efforts to reach a lasting ceasefire” to free all hostages, allow in more aid and to assure Israel of its security.

He took issue with Israel’s stated war aims, warning that if the “total destruction of Hamas” in Gaza was the goal, “the war will last 10 years”.

 

 ‘Total victory’

 

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war would continue “until we achieve all its aims” including eliminating the Islamist movement.

“Our soldiers prepared during the days of truce for total victory against Hamas,” he said in Tel Aviv on Saturday, at his first press conference since fighting resumed.

“There is no way to win except by continuing the ground campaign,” Netanyahu told reporters, underscoring that this would be done while “observing international law”.

Israel’s air, naval and ground forces have attacked more than 400 targets in Gaza since the ceasefire ended, the army said on Saturday.

The figure is roughly in line with the daily average number of strikes prior to the pause, according to military figures released previously.

Warplanes hit “more than 50 targets in an extensive attack in the Khan Yunis area” of southern Gaza, according to the military.

Separately, members of an Israeli armoured brigade “eliminated terrorist squads and directed fire against terrorist targets in the north of the Gaza Strip”, the military said.

In the occupied West Bank, the Israeli army said troops shot dead a Palestinian at a checkpoint near the city of Nablus after he “drew a knife and started to advance towards them.”

Syria said Israel carried out air strikes near Damascus on Saturday.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard accused Israel of killing two of its members in Syria who it said had been on an “advisory mission”.

Guirassy Scores Again As Stuttgart See Off Bremen

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Guirassy Scores Again As Stuttgart See Off Bremen

Stuttgart needed to win a two-legged relegation playoff to stay in the top division last season but now sit third after 13 matches, two points behind second-placed Bayern Munich.

Stuttgart striker Serhou Guirassy continued his remarkable Bundesliga scoring form this season, scoring a second-half penalty in a 2-0 home win over Werder Bremen on Saturday.

Guirassy, making his first start since mid-October after injury, was brought down in the box by Bremen defender Niklas Stark.

The striker chipped his spot-kick down the middle to chalk up his 16th goal of the season in just 11 games.

Brighton loanee Deniz Undav had given Stuttgart the lead after 17 minutes, tapping in from close range for his eighth goal in his past eight games.

Stuttgart needed to win a two-legged relegation playoff to stay in the top division last season but now sit third after 13 matches, two points behind second-placed Bayern Munich.

Leipzig Win At Home 

Leipzig won 2-1 over promoted Heidenheim, goals from Lois Openda and Yussuf Poulsen sending the home side past Borussia Dortmund to fourth in the table.

Leipzig took the lead from the penalty spot, Openda winning and converting for his 10th goal in 13 league matches this season.

Poulsen doubled up for the hosts shortly before half-time taking advantage after wing-back David Raum beat two defenders.

“In the first half we were like a rabbit in front of a snake,” admitted Heidenheim manager Frank Schmidt.

His side hit back immediately after, Benedikt Gimber steering in through a crowded penalty area after a corner.

The goal would have raised some bad memories for the home side, who gave away a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 at European champions Manchester City in midweek.

But Marco Rose’s side dug deep against the energetic promoted side, securing a fifth home win of the season.

“We had so many chances to score, we should have killed the game earlier today,” said Poulsen.

Borussia Moenchengladbach needed a late winner to beat Hoffenheim 2-1 at home, left-back Luca Netz setting up Nathan Ngoumou for the winner with 10 minutes remaining.

Brought down in the box by former Liverpool centre-back Ozan Kabak midway through the second half, Gladbach’s Alassane Plea converted a penalty to give the home side the lead.

The visitors equalised just 90 seconds later however, with one-time Manchester United striker Wout Weghorst heading in from close range.

Elsewhere, Bochum won just their second match of the season, beating a disappointing Wolfsburg 3-1 at home to open a welcome gap from the relegation places.

Bochum ran out to a two-goal lead thanks to goals from Patrick Osterhage and Bernardo, but Wolfsburg pulled a goal back later in the first half through Mattias Svanberg.

Christopher Antwi-Adjei scored the winner with three minutes remaining, continuing Wolfsburg’s horrid away form, with just one win from seven games.

“Our away form this season has been a catastrophe,” said Wolfsburg midfielder Yannick Gerhardt. “I’m sorry for the fans who travelled to see it”.

Bayern’s home game against Union Berlin was postponed earlier Saturday due to heavy snowfall in the Bavarian capital.

Bayer Leverkusen can go five clear atop the table with a win at home against Dortmund on Sunday.

Israel, Hamas Trade Strikes As Palestinian Toll Mounts

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Israel, Hamas Trade Strikes As Palestinian Toll Mounts

Israel and Hamas brushed off international calls to renew an expired truce Saturday as air strikes pounded militant targets in Gaza and Palestinian groups launched volleys of rockets.

Israel and Hamas brushed off international calls to renew an expired truce Saturday as air strikes pounded militant targets in Gaza and Palestinian groups launched volleys of rockets.

Smoke again clouded the sky over the north of the Palestinian territory, whose Hamas government said 240 people had been killed since a pause in hostilities expired early Friday and combat resumed.

In Israel, the military’s Home Front Command reported 40 missile alerts in the south and centre of the country, and the Palestinian groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad announced “rocket barrages” against multiple Israeli cities and towns including Tel Aviv.

“Over 250 rockets have been fired at Israel since Friday morning,” Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner told reporters. “The vast majority of those have not been successful in reaching their destination. Each one of those, obviously, is intended to kill Israelis.”

According to the United Nations, an estimated 1.7 million people in Gaza — more than two-thirds of the population — have been displaced by eight weeks of war.

Fadel Naim, chief doctor at the Al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza City, said his morgue had received 30 bodies on Saturday, including seven children.

“The planes bombed our houses: three bombs, three houses destroyed,” Nemr al-Bel, 43, told AFP, adding he had counted 10 dead in his family and “13 more still under the rubble”.

The population is short of food, water and other essentials, and many homes have been destroyed. UN agencies have declared a humanitarian catastrophe, although some aid trucks did arrive Saturday.

“Homes, hospitals and other infrastructure critical to the survival of the civilian population have suffered colossal destruction,” said Pascal Hundt, head of operations in Gaza for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

“Current conditions do not allow for a meaningful humanitarian response, and I fear will spell disaster for the civilian population,” he added.

After the truce between Israel and Hamas expired on Friday, Israel had told NGOs not to bring aid convoys across the Rafah border crossing from Egypt, the Palestine Red Crescent Society had said.

But on Saturday, the charity said its Egyptian colleagues had managed to send over a number of trucks.

Israel Withdraws Negotiators 

 

Both sides blamed each other for the breakdown of the truce, which before it expired had enabled the release of 80 Israeli hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.

The deal had been brokered with the help of Qatar, backed by Egypt and the United States, but on Saturday Israel said it was withdrawing its negotiators from Doha after reaching a dead end in talks aimed at securing a renewed pause in hostilities.

French President Emmanuel Macron appealed for “stepped-up efforts to reach a lasting ceasefire” to free all hostages, allow in more aid and to assure Israel of its security.

During an unprecedented attack on October 7, Hamas fighters broke through Gaza’s militarised border into Israel, killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took around 240 Israelis and foreigners hostage, according to Israeli authorities.

Israel vowed to eliminate Hamas in response and unleashed an air and ground campaign that has killed more than 15,000 people, also mostly civilians, the Hamas authorities who run Gaza say.

Since the end of the pause, Israel’s air, naval and ground forces have attacked more than 400 targets in Gaza, the army said on Saturday.

The figure is roughly in line with the daily average number of strikes prior to the pause, according to military figures released previously.

Warplanes hit “more than 50 targets in an extensive attack in the Khan Yunis area” of Gaza’s south, according to the military.

Separately, members of an Israeli armoured brigade “eliminated terrorist squads and directed fire against terrorist targets in the north of the Gaza Strip”, the military said.

 Fighting Spreads 

 

International leaders and humanitarian groups condemned the return to fighting.

“I deeply regret that military operations have started again in Gaza,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on X, formerly Twitter.

The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which like Hamas is backed by Iran, said two of its members were killed Friday in Israeli strikes on Lebanon, as its fighters resumed attacks against Israeli targets following the end of the truce.

Israel’s military said its artillery struck the sources of “launches” from Lebanon.

Syria said Israel carried out air strikes near Damascus on Saturday. A British-based war monitor said the strikes on “Hezbollah sites” killed two Syrian pro-Hezbollah fighters.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard accused Israel of killing two of its members in Syria who it said had been on an “advisory mission”.

Hamas in October last year said it had restored relations with Syria’s government. Israeli attacks on targets in Syria have intensified since the Israel-Hamas war began.

The week of hostage-prisoner exchanges yielded tearful reunions of Israeli families with their released relatives and jubilation in the streets of the Israeli-occupied West Bank as Palestinians walked free from Israeli jails.

Twenty-five other hostages, mostly Thais, were also freed in separate arrangements.

The Israeli army on Friday said 136 hostages were still being held in Gaza, including more than a dozen women.

The end of the pause meant bitter disappointment for the families of those still not freed.

“We saw a chance for people to come out, be reunited with their families and resume their old lives,” said Ilan Zharia, the uncle of Eden Yerushalmi, 20, one of the women still held captive.

Romania said it had been told by Israel that a Romanian-Israeli hostage had died in Gaza.

COP28: Nigeria To Rollout 100 Electric Buses – Tinubu

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COP28: Nigeria To Rollout 100 Electric Buses – Tinubu

The "pioneering initiative" is to "significantly" reduce Nigeria's carbon footprint and modernise the country's transportation systems," Tinubu said in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on the margins of the COP28 climate summit.

Nigeria will rollout 100 electric buses in a step towards a sustainable and eco-friendly future, President Bola Tinubu said Saturday. 

The “pioneering initiative” is to “significantly” reduce Nigeria’s carbon footprint and modernise the country’s transportation systems,” Tinubu said in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on the margins of the COP28 climate summit.

”This initiative stands as a testament to our dedication to environmental stewardship as clearly exemplified through our collaboration with the Africa Carbon Market Initiative. Our visionary plan is a strategic guidepost, directing Nigeria towards becoming an investment-friendly destination for carbon market investments,” presidential spokesman Ajuri Ngelale quoted his principal as saying.

”We recognize the imperative of fostering an environment that not only attracts investment but also upholds standardized and sustainable industrial practices. As a manifestation of our forward-thinking approach, we are actively looking to implement robust, enabling policies and frameworks that will serve as the catalyst for the burgeoning growth of the carbon market within our national borders.”

President Tinubu also appointed the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Zacch Adedeji and the Director-General of the National Council on Climate Change (NCCC) Dahiru Salisu to co-chair the Nigeria Carbon Market Activation Plan.

While the move is part of efforts to position Nigeria and Africa as the pioneering frontier of green manufacturing and industrialization, Tinubu is urging other countries on the continent to follow suit.

”As we unveil our initiatives, I challenge other nations to emulate our strides in mapping out their sustainable futures with a clear understanding that Africa is a beacon of innovative solutions to climate-related challenges,” he said.

Tinubu said Nigeria’s “plans for a greener and cleaner economy can serve as an inspirational narrative for nations worldwide”.

“Our comprehensive approach, rooted in visionary leadership and pragmatic action supported by our technical partners, is poised to become a blueprint for countries aspiring to also develop and catalyze their markets for sustainable growth,” the president added.