Author: Chronicle Editor

Alvaro Morata and Thibaut Courtois missed penalties as Arsenal won the Community Shield with a dramatic 4-1 shootout victory over 10-man Chelsea. The season curtain-raiser between Premier League champions Chelsea and FA Cup winners Arsenal finished 1-1 after Sead Kolasinac, two minutes after Pedro was shown a straight red card, cancelled out Victor Moses’ opener at Wembley. An English football first followed as the ‘ABBA’ penalty shootout was deployed and the Gunners prevailed to extend their winning record at Wembley to nine straight games, including two in penalty shootouts. Trailing 2-1 in the shootout, Courtois took Chelsea’s second kick but…

The United Nations’ peacekeeping mission has discovered mass graves in a region of northern Mali beset by conflict between rival groups, the mission said on Saturday. Fighting between Tuareg groups has intensified in recent weeks in the north, threatening to derail a 2015 peace agreement. The U.N. mission, known as MINUSMA, has investigated reports of human rights abuses, including in the village of Anefis, about 100 km (60 miles) southwest from the town of Kidal. “As for Anefis, the teams were able to observe on site the existence of individual graves and mass graves but are not able to establish…

On Sunday, gunmen attacked the St. Philips Catholic Church, Ozubulu in Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra state, east of Nigeria. A witness told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday that the gunmen went into the church during the 5:45 a.m. mass and identified a particular man and shot him. He said that they later went on rampage and shot at the remaining over 100 worshippers. Scores of people were killed in the church while other critically injured worshippers died on the way to the Nnamdi Azikiwe Teaching Hospital, Nnewi. The motive of the attackers was not clear.…

On Saturday, the Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai reunited with his former allies to agree a pre-election pact to challenge President Robert Mugabe’s near four-decade hold on power at the polls next year. Mugabe, 93, has ruled the former British colony since independence in 1980. Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has been the main threat to Mugabe since its formation in 1999 but has been weakened by splits, in 2005 and 2014, mainly over strategy. On Saturday, Welshman Ncube, who led a break-away MDC faction in 2004 and Tendai Biti, who left the main opposition in 2014, signed…

US television network Fox News has suspended one of its presenters after he was accused of sending lewd photographs to three female co-workers. Eric Bolling, a long-time host at the network, allegedly sent the messages on separate occasions several years ago. His lawyer described the claims as “untrue and terribly unfair”. Fox News said an investigation was under way. The conservative cable news outlet has been hit by several high-profile harassment cases recently. Citing 14 unnamed sources, the Huffington Post, a politically liberal news site, reports that Mr Bolling sent unsolicited photos of male genitalia by text message to at…

A suicide bomber has killed at least seven people in a small town in northern Cameroon near the Nigeria border, a local official and a military source said on Sunday. The attack occurred on Saturday near Amchide in Cameroon’s Far North region, which has become a target for Boko Haram suicide bombers, many of whom are young women forced to enter populated areas with explosives strapped to their bodies. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack and the identity of the bombers is unknown. Another suicide bomb exploded in the town of Waza in north Cameroon on Saturday, but…

The Nigerian Army has made a shock discovery that some Nigerian parents donated their daughters to Boko Haram to be used as suicide bombers. Army spokesman, Brigadier General Sani Usman said the girls were donated by their parents, according to some of the would-be-bombers apprehended and who made revealing statements during interrogations. “It was discovered that most of these hapless minors were “donated” to the terrorists sect by their heartless and misguided parents and guardians as part of their contribution to the perpetuation of the Boko Haram terrorists’ dastardly acts against the Nigerian society and humanity”, Usman said. READ: Niger…

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has paid a courtesy visit to Zambia’s President Edgar Lungu and he is to visit imprisoned opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema. Obasanjo met with Lungu on Saturday at the State House in Lusaka. According to President Lungu’s spokesperson, Mr. Amos Chanda, the two leaders discussed peace efforts as well as his anti-polio campaign in Africa. Mr Chanda said the Nigerian leader also asked to be allowed to visit imprisoned opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema. Mr Hichilema has been in detention since April facing treason charges. Political tensions have since been high in the country. Last month, President Lungu…

The Community Shield is hours away and the bookmakers have firmly put Chelsea in the driving seat but their odds do not tell the full story. If statistics and history are anything to go by, then Arsenal could win this game just as they did in the FA Cup when Chelsea were favourites to win. For starters, Belgium midfielder Eden Hazard and midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko will noy both feature in this game while Arsene Wenger is yet to decide if wantaway forward Alexis Sanchez will play at the new Wembley stadium. READ: World Championships 2017: Usain Bolt Beaten By Justin…

The Nigerian troops have killed two Boko Haram suspects in an ambush along Alagarno forest axis in Borno State. Brig.-Gen. Sani Usman, the military spokesman said in a statement on Sunday that the operation was carried out by troops of Operation LAFIYA DOLE deployed at Forward Operation Base Mainok. He said that the insurgents were ferrying logistics items to their colleagues when they were caught in the ambush. He said that two weapons, motorcycles, Jerry cans and grounded guinea corn were recovered from them during the operation. “Similarly, troops of 151 Battalion, 21 Brigade Nigerian Army, on routine clearing of…