Armed group piles pressure on the landlocked Sahel country and its military government.
Fighters affiliated with al-Qaeda have blocked fuel deliveries to Mali’s capital for two months, bringing the city of Bamako to a standstill.
They’ve sealed off the highways that tankers use to transport fuel from neighbouring Senegal and the Ivory Coast. This has put pressure on the landlocked Sahel country and its military government.
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The scale of the blockade, and its impact, show just how much influence the armed group wields. So, are al-Qaeda-linked fighters trying to take power in Mali? And what does that mean for the battle against armed groups in the Sahel region?
Presenter: Nick Clark
Guests:
Moussa Kondo – Executive director of the Sahel Institute
Oluwole Ojewale – Coordinator for West and Central Africa at the Institute for Security Studies
Legendary actress Victoria Wood has been given a huge honour with a theatre being named after her, a decade after she died aged 62, having battled cancer
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Victoria Wood in the cast of Dinnerladies (Image: PA)
Victoria Wood is to have a theatre named in her honour in her beloved Lake District. The 260-seat Old Laundry Theatre in Bowness-on-Windermere has announced that it is to become the Victoria Wood Theatre from January. Wood, who died in 2016, opened the theatre and staged several of her own works there, including Talent in 2008 and a stage adaptation of Housewife 49 in 2013.
Wood had a cottage in nearby Ambleside, which she left to her children, Grace and Henry, after her death in 2016 at the age of 62. Her will instructed them not to sell it ‘so long as it’s enjoyed by family’.
The comedian was also a trustee and patron of the Old Laundry Theatre, which was opened in 1992 by husband-and-wife team Roger Glossop and Charlotte Scott in a disused laundry. They also turned the neighbouring building into the World of Beatrix Potter attraction, which Wood officially opened.
Glossop told the Sunday Times: “People do forget very quickly. The trust is intent on people remembering Vic and her remarkable talent. So what we want from these legacy projects is to keep the name bouncing along.”
The couple first met Wood while working as stage manager and designer on Wood’s musical Talent at the Sheffield Crucible in 1978 and remained lifelong friends, going on family holidays together.
Scott explained: “With young families in tow (hers and ours), we followed Vic’s career as she toured up and down the country, always returning to re-charge in the Lake District. By the time we opened the venue in 1991, followed by the theatre in 1992, Vic, together with Alan Rickman, Griff Rhys Jones, Andre Ptaszynski, Peter James, and Alan Ayckbourn all became trustees and the journey began.”
The renaming will coincide with the world premiere of jukebox musical Fourteen Again, a brand new show featuring Wood’s music and lyrics.
Tom MacRae, who co-wrote the musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, has written the script for the show. He wants the musical to work for fans of Wood’s work and for newcomers too.
He said: ”How do you explain Victoria Wood to people who have no context for her? I say, ‘She is probably one of the most beloved British comedians of them all, working at a time when there were very few female comedians and a consensus that women weren’t funny.
“And yet you never think of her as being this trailblazer. She was just the funniest person you wanted to watch. She was just Victoria Wood. She was brilliant. There was an absolute determination within her. But everyone felt like they were friends with her.”
Wood, died from cancer aged 62 in April 2016. She found fame in the 1980s and was best known for her BBC sketch Acorn Antiques and comedy Dinnerladies. She won five Baftas including two for her one-off ITV drama Housewife, 49.
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At the time of her death long-time comedy partner Julie Walters said she was “too heart sore to comment – the loss of her is incalculable”.
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Love Island star Molly-Mae Hague has opened up about her struggle to let go of her family home which she has lived in for almost four years and brought her daughter up in
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Molly-Mae is struggling to sell her home for emotional reasons
Molly-Mae Hague shared with fans her latest dilemma while on a video post on social media. The reality TV star, who is a mum of one, told fans that she is in a quandary when it comes to the sale of her £3.8million house, as she doesn’t want to let it go – despite knowing she has to.
The 26-year-old reality TV star, who shot to fame on Love Island in 2019, moved into her lavish home in 2022, along with fiancé Tommy Fury.
But things have been somewhat rocky between the pair, which may explain her decision to leave the once family home. Speaking on her vlog, she told fans: “Like I still don’t know what I’m doing in terms of this house.”
She went on to say that “a lot of big decisions need to be made in terms of what I’m going to do with this house, and I’ve mentioned it [but] I don’t want to sell it. I don’t particularly want to rent it ou,t but then equally, what am I keeping it for? I don’t know. I just don’t, I really, really don’t know.”
She then continued: “Like there’s some things, that I know in my mind like I’m ready to do, and I want to do, but like in terms of this house…This house will always be so incredibly sentimental to me.”
Despite her growing fame, Molly expressed that the house she currently shares with her daughter Bambi, “is more than just a house.”
She added: “I don’t know. I think just like need to figure out like what the next few months is going to look like in terms of where I basically go from here and with this house.”
Looking at options in order to stay living in the north of England, she even looked at her mother moving up from the south. But she soon discarded that idea, as her mum’s husband has an “amazing job” in the south.
In an interview with the Decemebr/January issue of Cosmopolitan magazine, she said: “I felt like I’d lived so much life by 23, I felt really ready for a new chapter. Tommy and I were in an incredible place and to have something that was half him, half me, just felt really special. I’ve never had any regrets about starting a family young. “
She added: “But if I could go back and maybe go again, would I have waited a few more years? Potentially. I would love more days to just sit and do absolutely nothing. They were great for my mental health.”
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She also touched on the possibility of having another child. She continued: “I think about it a lot, and I feel a real pressure around it because I’m desperate to give Bambi a sibling.
“But I would never want to do it just for her – I would also want to do it because it is something I want to do. At the same time as being a mum, I also have huge career ambitions and when I fell pregnant with Bambi, my biggest goal was that I didn’t want to lose my identity – I didn’t want to lose myself and my goals and my dreams and my business ambitions because I was becoming a mum.”
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Morocco has recorded the biggest victory in U-17 World Cup history, thrashing New Caledonia 16-0 to keep their hopes of progressing to the knockout stages alive.
The result surpassed Spain’s previous record of a 13-0 win over New Zealand.
The match, which took place on Sunday, saw a relentless Moroccan attack, with Abdelali Eddaoudi leading the charge.
Eddaoudi was named Player of the Match after scoring two goals in the first half and contributing to Morocco’s devastating offensive performance.
READ ALSO: Man City Crush Liverpool To Close In On Premier League Leaders Arsenal
New Caledonia struggled throughout the match, particularly after being reduced to nine men in the first half due to two red cards.
Typhan Dreuko and Jean Canehmez were both sent off for foul play, leaving their team severely undermanned.
Despite the numerical advantage, Morocco showed no mercy, as Oualid Ibn Salah, Abdelali Eddaoudi, Ziyad Baha, Nahel Haddani, Ismail El Aoud, and Abdellah Ouazane each scored braces, contributing to the overwhelming scoreline.
Aston Villa put in a dominant team performance, with four different goalscorers, to secure their biggest Premier League win of the season by beating Bournemouth 4-0 at Villa Park.
MATCH REPORT: Premier League – Aston Villa 4-0 Bournemouth
Aston Villa put in a dominant team performance, with four different goalscorers, to secure their biggest Premier League win of the season by beating Bournemouth 4-0 at Villa Park.
MATCH REPORT: Premier League – Aston Villa 4-0 Bournemouth
