As they prepare for their first appearance at a major tournament in history, head coach Rhian Wilkinson wants Wales to “show the world who we are.”
In their opening match of Euro 2025, Wales take on the Netherlands in Lucerne on Saturday.
Mali’s military authorities have granted coup leader Assimi Goita a five-year presidential mandate, renewable “as many times as necessary” and without requiring an election.
The country’s transitional parliament approved the move on Thursday, clearing the way for Goita to lead Mali until at least 2030.
“This is a major step forward in the rebuilding of Mali,” Malick Diaw, president of the National Transitional Council (NTC), told the AFP news agency after the bill was voted on.
“The adoption of this text is in accordance with the popular will. ”
However, critics say this is the latest in a series of restrictions on freedom imposed by Mali’s military leadership to consolidate its power in the country.
Goita came to power after staging two coups in Mali, first in 2020 and then in 2021. Initially, the military government pledged to return to civilian rule in March 2024.
The bill on Thursday was unanimously backed by the 131 members present in the NTC, according to AFP and Mali’s state-run L’Essor website.
The NTC, composed of 147 legislators, had already adopted the measure in April, while the Council of Ministers adopted it last month. It now only requires the approval of Goita himself.
The transition is fixed at five years, renewable “as many times as necessary, until the pacification of the country, from the promulgation of this charter”, reported AFP, quoting the bill.
Previous bans have also been lifted, allowing the transitional president, government and legislative members to stand in presidential and general elections, the text says.
Critics have raised concerns about the revised transition charter, as all references to political parties have been removed, questioning the government’s political neutrality.
In May, the military government announced the dissolution of all political parties and organisations, as well as a ban on meetings.
The continuing squeeze on Mali’s civic space comes against a backdrop of a clamour by authorities for the country to unite behind the military.
When Goita was officially sworn in as transitional president in June 2021, he insisted on Mali’s commitment to fighting against “jihadist” violence, and initially pledged a return to civilian rule.
But the military ultimately reneged on its promise to cede power to elected civilians by its self-imposed deadline.
Since 2012, Mali has been mired in violence carried out by armed groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and ISIL, as well as criminal organisations. Attacks have intensified in recent weeks.
However, the Malian army and its Russian mercenary allies from the Africa Corps, tasked with tracking down armed fighters, are regularly accused of their own rights violations against civilians.
Mali and its military-led neighbours Burkina Faso and Niger have teamed up to create their own confederation, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), and announced the creation of a joint 5,000-strong force for joint military operations.
All three Sahelian countries have turned their backs on their shared former coloniser, France, in favour of stronger ties with Russia and other partners.
Goita has also withdrawn Mali from the regional group, ECOWAS, over its demands that Mali restore democratic rule, and Burkina Faso and Niger have followed suit.
The coup that brought Goita to power overthrew then-President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita after huge antigovernment protests against his rule and handling of the armed rebellion.
Joe Rothwell says the chance to reunite with Russell Martin was a key factor in his decision to join Rangers.
The 30-year-old midfielder has signed a three-year deal at Ibrox after leaving Bournemouth.
He will link up once again with new Rangers manager Martin, who he played under as part of the Southampton side who achieved promotion to the English Premier League in 2024.
Rothwell achieved similar success while on loan at Leeds United last season, and he explained having turned down Rangers once to join Bournemouth in 2022, he was not going to pass up the opportunity again.
“Just before I signed for Bournemouth [from Blackburn Rovers], it was kind of a toss-up between the two,” Rothwell said.
Rothwell was aware of interest from Ibrox earlier in the summer, but says Martin’s man-management skills and tactical nous were what persuaded him to head north of the border.
“Yeah, obviously there was a little bit of interest there before the manager got the job, but as soon as I found out that he was getting it, he gave me a phone call and I was like, yeah, I’ll be straight there,” Rothwell added.
“He just sees the game how I would like to if I was a manager, how I would like to play the game.
“He’s a possession-based manager. From the outside, it looks like he’s just playing pointless passes. But when you’re actually inside it, you understand every pass that you make is key.
Rothwell spent his entire youth career at Manchester United, but left in 2016 after failing to break into the first team.
And he says that setback pushed him to return to a “huge club”.
“Leaving was never easy,” he said of his Old Trafford exit. “I was there for 15-odd years, so having to leave was tough, but I knew it was the right thing to do for my own career.
“A big drive for me was to get back there and obviously try and play for a massive club again. And I feel like this is a club that I can. They are a huge club. “
Rothwell also says the vision outlined by Martin and the club’s new American owners convinced him that Ibrox was the right option at this stage of his career.
“They spoke to me about where they see the club going and what they want to achieve and I wanted to be a part of that,” Rothwell said.
“There was interest from elsewhere, but as soon as I knew that Rangers had come calling, it was wanting to go back to that big-club mentality.
Anne Keothavong, a pundit for BBC Sport, explains Sonay Kartal’s change in strategy that allowed her to play more aggressively toward the net in her third Wimbledon match victory over Diane Parry.
On BBC iPlayer, you can watch live court coverage from every court.
Otukpo local government legislative council has petitioned Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State and the State House of Assembly over alleged misappropriation of funds, gross misconduct, among other allegations levelled against the council chairman, Maxwell Ogiri.
The move was necessitated by an initial alarm raised by the Head of Revenue Department, Adina Victoria, on April 23, 3025, drawing the attention of the legislative house to the chairman’s financial recklessness and the need for authority to call him to order.
Aduma, while raising the alarm, accused the chairman of issuing revenue receipts without due approval by her office, inciting the revenue committee against the revenue department, and hijacking security levies, which, according to her, amounted to abuse of authority.
It is however, on the strength of this development that the legislators, after due diligence, wrote the petition dated June 17, 2025, and also sent to the Benue State Commissioner for Finance as well as Gubernatorial Liaison Officer(GLO) Otukpo, State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the media.
Titled, “Petition Against the Executive Chairman Otukpo LG, Prince Maxwell Ogiri Over Gross Financial Misconduct,” and signed by 11 legislators, including Honourables Amodu Philip Anya (Leader), Gloria Adu Harrison, Anthony Godwin, Idega Friday, Agbo Alapa, Otalu Musa Felix, Edit Johnson Onka, Ameh Sunday, Augustine Elaigwu, and Aaron Oono, listed a litany of weighty misconducts against the chairman and demanded his investigation by the various authorities.
The grassroot lawmakers further accused the council boss of blackmailing the governor and using his name to swindled N13 million from 13 councilors by asking them to pay N1 million each for their electoral appeal court in Abuja, operating illegal online bank account through alternative bank, illegal printing of revenue receipts, paying internally generated revenue into his accounts using PoS belonging to his assistant and spending government funds without budgetary approval.
READ ALSO: Killing Of Two Kano Indigenes In Benue Sparks Outrage
Others are his failure to honour invitations by the legislators to clarify issues bothering on governance, diversion of motorcycles donated by the state governor to ease local security patrol, importing thugs to the council secretariat to disrupt legislative sittings, high hardness and total disrespect for constituted authorities including police and civil defence in the local government area.
The aggrieved councillors affirmed, “We first believe that the PoS was used for revenue generation for the local government, but when we verified, we discovered that no kobo was remitted to the Local Government Revenue Account, but to his PA PoS account.
“We consider this as an act of blackmail and casting of negative aspersion on the administration of Governor Alia and his image, hence his anti-corruption posture, which is globally acknowledged.
“Since our inauguration on October 24, the chairman has consistently ignored financial rules and regulations by spending public funds accruable to the legislative council, which contravenes section 87, subsection 3 of Benue State Local Government Law 2007. ”
Concluding the petition, the legislators asserted, “We therefore appeal to Benue State House of Assembly to suspend the chairman and his deputy from office to pave the way for in-depth investigation and apportion of appropriation sanctions to serve as a deterrent to others.
It is added, “We are not allowed to sit, but the Chairman pocketed our sitting allowance. The other day, he brought over forty(40) thugs to our council hall and disrupted all our sitting.
“He also prevented us from meeting with a three-man peace committee sent to the local government by the state leadership of the All Progressives Congress after our petition was forwarded to the party, calling for intervention.
“He has also embarked on a move to recall the affected councilors who signed the petition against him by lobbying their ward chairmen to suspend them.
“We appeal to all the aforementioned agencies and authorities to embrace justice on the matter to avert continual government of impunity in Prince Maxwell Ogiri, as this is the yearning of the whole council citizens. ”
The State commissioner for finance and economic planning, Michael Oglegba, confirmed that he has received a petition from councilors in Otukpo local government council concerning financial misconduct involving the council chairman.
He described the allegations as very weighty, adding that he has decided to carry out an independent assessment to ascertain the veracity of the documents.
“There is a process to follow in order to treat this kind of petition. As commissioner of finance, I will advise the various authorities, including the State House of Assembly, to act swiftly.
“The chairman has not called to tell me what is happening. Coincidentally, I’m also from Otukpo LG. So, I only heard this crisis from a third party, that there is a total breakdown of law and order in the local government area over finances.
“When this document is related to other parties, the chairman has to come to speak and defend himself. These documents are already in public view, and Fr. Alia has zero tolerance for anything that is negative to his administration. Incidentally, I have sent this document to the Fiscal Responsibility Commission to act on it. The allegations are weighty and weighty enough for them to take a second look and give advice that could be appropriate,” he said.
Meanwhile, when contacted, the embattled Chairman, Maxwell Ogiri, indicted the Auditor General for Local Government, whom he claimed gave him the advice to operate the Revenue Accounts with Online Banks.
“Nothing is dangerous to embark on than change. It’s dangerous because the people who are benefiting from the old order would bring all their arsenals to fight you so that it does not succeed, and the people who would benefit from the new order may be lukewarm in protecting the new change that is introduced,” Ogiri said.
“I cannot open a new account for the local government. I have no reason not to use any bank, the Zenith Bank as a company is aware of that. But when I discovered that the revenue of any local government is the index that is used to determine subvention from the federation account, I was determined to step it up.
“In the process of doing that, I have to seek the advice of the auditor general for local government, who accepted and advised that, whichever contractor I am going to use, must be registered in Benue and must be a tax-paying consultant.
“He advised that I either give it to those consultants wholly or allow them to be in partnership with the revenue department of the local government, which has the workforce with primary responsibility for collecting revenue. So I allowed different consultants to submit proposals, thereafter I called a town hall meeting where all the traditional rulers, market women, heads of security agents, and the members of the revenue department in Otukpo local government were invited, and the advice was adopted.
“The first consultant that was selected could not cover the entire revenue points, and a new one was brought in, which is the Alternative Bank, who suggested opening a wallet, although not a bank, but can serve as a pipe through which monies pass into the main account of revenue of the local government.
“This was not intentionally done to siphon money. So when the system was not functioning properly for more than two to three weeks, I got another expert’s advice that there is a way Monie Point can be synchronised for payments directly into the main account of Revenue”.
He explained that when the system became operational, he constituted an implementation committee to ensure the effectiveness of the machine instead of money passing through hands.
He denied all the other allegations leveled against him and his administration, describing them as an infringement on people’s imagination.
First Test: Argentina vs. England
Kick-off time: 20:40 BST; Saturday, 5 July; Estadio Jorge Luis Hirschi, La Plata
George Ford claims that his first Test appearance is “the proudest memory of my career” as he approaches 100 appearances.
albeit brief one.
“I didn’t play very long on the field!” He claims that I managed to sneak on for a moment.
“I was attempting to be in the moment.
When you actually do it in front of 80 000 people and your family, it is a little surreal as a child because you dream of it.
Wales lost to Wales in the Six Nations in March 2014. Before the final whistle, Ford fed Billy Twelvetrees a short ball and kicked long up George North in his two encounters after replacing Owen Farrell.
However, Ford, 32, is still a Test operator despite Twelvetrees and North’s decision to pursue their careers in second-tier club rugby.
He claims that “the game has changed a lot in 11 years.”
Back then, there was much more space and time. Defenses increase the game’s speed, the physicality appears to have increased, and the game’s speed has increased.
Forwards are ending up like backs these days, and backs are ending up like backs.
If you are not quite on it, you are punished in Test rugby because every area is so contested, whether it’s the breakdown, the air, or the set-piece.
This Saturday won’t have any margin for error.
In their first of two fiendish summer tests, England will take on Argentina. The 32, 000-capacity Jorge Luis Hirschi Stadium, home to Estudiantes, hosts the top-flight football team.
And the Pumas, who are currently fifth in the world and just finished defeating the British and Irish Lions, will be urged to win this series in a sweet, long-awaited manner.
Ford says it’s “incredibly exciting to enter a place like that.”
“Argentina are a really risky team,” he said. Some passionate, emotional players who base their game on being physically present are present.
They can make you pay if you are loose, striking quickly off turnover and transition, but they also have the skill and X-factor.
“They have definitely made progress in recent years. However, despite a few new faces and a few missing guys, we feel like we are doing well.
We have a plan in place, and we think we can help.
In the past, Ford has impressed against Argentina.
When England won both of their matches on a tour in 2017 again without their Lions players, he was a star performer.
When England won the 2019 Rugby World Cup against Argentina, he was the match’s man.
This summer would be a good time for similarly impressive displays.
Ford started for England at the start of the 2024 Six Nations, but Marcus Smith replaced him on a tour in New Zealand after an Achilles issue prevented him from playing until Fin Smith was chosen as the first choice in 2025.
Smiths and the Lions are currently away. Nine tenths of the law applies to possession. Opportunity appears to strike.
Ford, however, has since stopped noticing that way. Since 2014, he has been both popular and unpopular. He takes the long view after ten years.
One thing has remained constant throughout my international career: the debate, discussion, and noise about who plays England’s number 10,” Ford says.
It is present forever.
“Of course, we all make an effort to advance and improve, and I’ll make sure to put my hand up.” I’ll, of course.
The main point is that we are all trying to win, and I don’t think people understand that.
“It’s a mindset for me to be a member of an England team and squad.” Whatever my position will be at the time, I’ll use every opportunity to help the team triumph.
“We are here because of that.” When the team wins, you have those memories in mind. It’s not about how many minutes you play as a player for 10 minutes. How many games will you win with England?
“That’s my entire outlook on everything.
Ford is attempting to instill in his younger team-mates that they are level-headed and conceited.
England lacks experience without their Lions. Less than 15 caps are in the starting XV, which is nine. Guy Pepper will likely start off the bench as Seb Atkinson and Will Muir make their Test debuts.
Perhaps we experienced people can offer some guidance on how a test match can sometimes feel, Ford suggested.
The saying goes, “When you are under pressure, the pressure is on, and the opposition crowd is on their feet, and you can turn the game around.” That’s what your experience will give you.
You have experienced it enough times to ride those peaks and troughs over the course of 80 minutes, with the hope that you can stay in control of it enough to achieve the desired outcome.