In response to three consecutive defeats at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals, the Gabon government has suspended the national team, fired the coach, and sacked coach Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
After finishing last in their group and being expelled from the tournament in Morocco, Gabon’s acting sports minister Simplice-Desire Mamboula on Wednesday announced the national team’s suspension on television.
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After the Panthers lost 3-2 to the Ivory Coast in Marrakech, Mamboula stated that the government has decided to dissolve the coaching staff, suspend the national team until further notice, and omit players Bruno Ecuele Manga and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
After losing their opening two Group F games to Cameroon and Mozambique, Gabon, under the direction of former defender Thierry Mouyouma, went on to defeat the defending champions 2-0, before conceding three goals and starting in a second-string Ivorian lineup.
Aubameyang returned to his French club Olympique de Marseille on Wednesday after recovering from a thigh injury, and neither did veteran defender Ecuele Manga.
The former African Footballer of the Year responded on social media by saying, “I think the team’s problems are much deeper than the individual I am.
At 36, Aubameyang was most likely to have played his final game for Gabon before being defeated by Mozambique, just like former Cardiff City defender Ecuele Manga.
Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, president of Somalia, revealed to Al Jazeera in an exclusive interview that the region’s separatist region had agreed to allow Palestinians to relocate there in exchange for recognition. The allegations have been refuted by Malamali officials.
Enzo Maresca’s departure from Chelsea marked a dramatic fall from grace for the Italian, who was named manager of the month in November before the team lost just one of their previous seven league games, causing them to lose the Premier League title race.
Enzo Maresca, the head coach of Chelsea Football Club, and the club announced a joint venture on Thursday, according to a statement from the league.
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After leading Leicester City to Premier League promotion in 2024, Maresca, who joined Chelsea in 2024, has spent the next two years helping the club regain its fortunes.
In his first season with a young but expensive squad, he ultimately led the London side to UEFA Champions League qualification with a fourth-place finish, the Conference League trophy, and the Club World Cup title.
Poor run of form
However, the club hierarchy took action and parted ways with the 45-year-old manager following a poor December run of form and an uncharacteristic outburst from the Italian.
Enzo and the club believe a change has the best chance of getting the season back on track because “important objectives remain to be met across four competitions, including Champions League football,” according to the Chelsea statement.
Chelsea, who had already defeated Barcelona 3-3 in the Champions League at Stamford Bridge, placed third in the standings in November. They were also confident in their title hopes.
At the halfway point of the season, they have since fallen to fifth place in the league, 15 points behind leaders Arsenal.
Chelsea’s star Cole Palmer shakes hands with Maresca, left, after being substituted in his team’s final game against Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge in London, United Kingdom, on December 30, 2025. [Andrew Boyers/Action Images via Reuters]
‘ Worst 48 hours ‘
Maresca expressed frustration over issues that were unresolved behind the scenes last month, describing a period following Everton’s 2-0 victory as “the worst 48 hours” of his tenure.
The Italian did not elaborate on what he meant, but it appeared that Chelsea’s downward trend had caused the damage.
Chelsea won only two points in their final three Premier League games despite defeating Cardiff City to advance to the semifinals.
Off the field, Maresca’s mention of his commitment to Chelsea, where he had a contract until 2029, added to the unwelcome distraction of denying any connections to the Manchester City job.
But his final game in charge of Bournemouth ended in a 2-2 home draw with the hosts, where fans yelled “You don’t know what you’re doing” as he replaced playmaker Cole Palmer while booing at the final whistle.
In a drone attack on a hotel and cafe in a region of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region where New Year’s celebrations were taking place, Russia has claimed that Ukraine killed at least 24 people, including a child.
Vladimir Saldo, the region’s newly elected governor, first made the claim in a statement on Telegram before the Russian-led ministry of foreign affairs, and senior politicians later accused Ukraine of staging a “terror attack.”
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Saldo also published images of the events that he described as the result of the attack, which Al Jazeera is unable to verify.
The images below a white sheet showed at least one person’s body.
There appeared to be bloodstains on the ground and signs of a fierce fire had erupted in the building.
In a “deliberate strike” against civilians, Saldo claimed in the statement that three Ukrainian drones had struck the Khorly, a coastal village, where the New Year’s celebrations were taking place. He claimed that numerous people had been burned alive.
Initial reports from Russia’s foreign ministry indicated that 50 people had been injured and 24 had been killed.
The ministry said in a statement that the attack was “a war crime” and that “drones deliberately targeted areas where civilians had gathered to celebrate New Year’s Eve” in advance.
Following what the Russian-installed authorities described as an overnight Ukrainian drone attack on a hotel and cafe [Handout/Governor of Kherson on Telegram via Reuters]
In a statement on Telegram, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the West’s supporters in particular were to blame.
Kyiv was denounced by senior politicians, including those who speak in the parliament’s two houses.
Russia claimed ownership of four of Ukraine’s regions in 2022, a move that Kyiv and the majority of Western nations have characterized as an illegal land grab.
Moscow’s claim was not made public by Ukraine’s military, but it claimed it had overnight attacked Russia’s Ilsky-oil refinery in the Krasnodar region. The results were also being being investigated.
The military also claimed in a statement on Telegram that it had attacked the Tatarstan region’s Almetyevsk oil facility.
More than 965 kilometers (600 miles) from Ukraine’s most remote region, and even further away from Kyiv’s current-controlling territory, lies the Almetyevsk facility.
Russia releases a video of the “attack” against Putin at his residence.
Moscow made the claim on Tuesday that Ukraine had launched a long-range drone attack on one of President Vladimir Putin’s official residences in northwest Russia, which Kyiv has described as a “lie.”
A downed drone it claimed was involved in the attack was captured on video by Russia’s defense ministry on Wednesday.
A man wearing camouflage, a helmet, and a vest stood close to a shattered drone lying in snow at night in the video.
The man talks about the drone while covering his face. No location or date was provided by the man or the Defense Ministry.
The claims and video couldn’t be independently verified.
Peace talks
Kyiv has criticized the claims of an attack on Putin’s residence as a ruse to thwart ongoing peace talks, which have erupted on both sides of the Atlantic in recent weeks.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated in his New Year’s address that a peace deal was “90 percent ready,” but warned that the remaining 10%, believed to include significant sticking points like territory, would “determine the fate of peace, the fate of Ukraine and Europe, and how people will live.”
Steve Witkoff, the special envoy for Trump, reported on Wednesday that he, Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, and Jared Kushner, the son of the president, had a “productive call” with the British, French, German, and Ukrainian national security advisers to talk about the “European peace process.”
In a post on X, Witkoff wrote that “we focused on how to advance the discussions in a practical way on behalf of Trump’s] peace process, including developing effective deconflict mechanisms to help end the war and prevent it from restarting,” in a post on X.
Rustem Umerov, the head negotiator for Ukraine, confirmed that officials from both Europe and Ukraine will meet on Saturday, and that Zelenskyy will meet with European leaders the following week.
Russian attacks on Ukraine
In addition, according to regional director Oleh Kiper, Russia attacked the Odesa region overnight and launched several drone attacks against civilian infrastructure.
A drone hit an apartment on the 17th floor of a high-rise building without detonating, according to Kiper in a post on Telegram. There were no reported injuries.
According to the air force’s daily report, 176 of 205 drones targeted Ukraine overnight were downed or suppressed by air defense forces.
Bulgaria has officially adopted the euro, becoming the 21st country to join the single currency nearly two decades after entering the European Union, a move that has led to both celebration and anxiety.
At midnight on Wednesday (22: 00 GMT), the Balkan country abandoned the lev, its national currency since the late 19th century.
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Images of Bulgarian euro coins lit up the central bank’s headquarters in Sofia as crowds gathered in freezing temperatures to mark the new year.
“I warmly welcome Bulgaria to the euro family”, said Christine Lagarde, the president of the European Central Bank.
Some residents welcomed the change with optimism. “Great! It works”! said Dimitar, 43, speaking to The Associated Press after withdrawing 100 euros from a cash machine shortly after midnight.
Successive Bulgarian governments have backed euro adoption, arguing it would strengthen the country’s fragile economy, anchor it more firmly within Western institutions and shield it from what officials describe as Russian influence. Bulgaria, with a population of about 6.4 million, remains the poorest member of the EU.
Commuters walk past an advertisement promoting Bulgaria’s entry into the eurozone in Sofia’s subway on December 31, 2025, ahead of the country’s adoption of the euro on January 1, 2026]Nikolay Doychinov/AFP]
Divided public
Yet public opinion has long remained split. Many Bulgarians fear the euro will drive up prices while wages stagnate, worsening living standards in a country already struggling with political instability.
In a televised address before midnight, President Rumen Radev described the euro as the “final step” in Bulgaria’s integration into the EU.
However, he criticised the absence of a public referendum on the decision.
“This refusal was one of the dramatic symptoms of the deep divide between the political class and the people, confirmed by mass demonstrations across the country”, Radev said.
Bulgaria recently experienced an additional level of uncertainty as a result of anticorruption protests that led to the country’s eighth election in five years.
A 40-year-old woman told the Sofia-based AFP news agency that “people are afraid that prices will go up while salaries will stay the same.”
Vendors at city markets listed prices in both levs and euros. Not everyone was concerned.
The Palestine Action group, which has been designated a terrorist organization in the UK, is holding regular hunger strikes in various prisons throughout the nation.
Four more Palestine Action members have put an end to their hunger strikes, some of which came after being hospitalized.
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What are the four hunger strikers’ current statistics?
Why are Palestine Action protesters on a hunger strike?
For more than 50 days, prisoners who are imprisoned for Palestine Action have been conducting hunger strikes in UK prisons.
The members of Palestine Action are currently serving time in prison for their alleged involvement in break-ins, including those at the UK subsidiary of Elbit Systems in Filton, near Bristol, where reportedly equipment was damaged, and at an Oxfordshire Royal Air Force base where two military aircraft were sprayed with red paint.
The prisoners deny the charges brought against them, including violent disorder and burglary.
Three of the four who are still on hunger strikes were imprisoned in November 2024 for allegedly engaging in break-ins at the UK subsidiary of Israeli weapons company Elbit Systems in Filton, near Bristol, where reportedly equipment was harmed. One person has been imprisoned since July 2025 after allegedly causing damage to two military aircraft with red paint at a Royal Air Force base in Oxfordshire.
Palestine Action, a protest group founded in July 2020, describes itself as a “movement committed to ending global participation in Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime.”
On July 2, 2025, the UK parliament approved a proscription of the organization, putting it under the same umbrella as armed organizations like al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS). Critics decried the action, contending that while group members have damaged property, they have not carried out violent acts that constitute terrorism.
In the three months following the introduction of the ban, more than 1,600 people were arrested in connection with Palestine Action. The court has ruled against the ban.
The hunger strikers want immediate bail, the right to a fair trial, the release of documents related to “the ongoing witch-hunt of activists and campaigners,” ending censorship of their communications, “de-proscribing” Palestine Action, and shutting down Elbit Systems, which runs several UK factories.
According to pro-Palestine activist Audrey Corno, “the UK government has forced their bodies to a breaking point.”
The prisoners’ and people’s’ resistance to the genocide in Gaza, as well as Israel’s genocide, will not be ended, according to a promise to the government.
Who are the hunger strikers still active?
The four people who are continuing their hunger strikes are Heba Muraisi, Ahmed, Kamran, Teuta Hoxha, and Chiaramello, Lewie, all between the ages of 20 and 31.
Heba Muraisi
On Thursday, Muraisi, 31, was on her hunger strike’s day 60. She is a prisoner in Wakefield, a prison in West Yorkshire, about 180 miles (290 kilometers) north of London, in the HMP [His Majesty’s Prison].
Muraisi was detained in November 2024 for her alleged involvement in a Bristol, Israel-based company’s alleged involvement in an August 2024 raid that is thought to have cost the Israeli weapons manufacturer more than $ 1.34 million.
Muraisi is reportedly of Yemeni descent, according to reports on social media. Al Jazeera was unable to independently verify this, however.
She left HMP Bronzefield in Surrey, which is located about 18 miles from the UK capital, and was transferred to the West Yorkshire prison in October 2025.
Heba wants to return to HMP Bronzefield, according to reports. She was abruptly and far from her entire family, which is based in London, when she was transferred. She has been the victim of repeated medical error. Her body is becoming increasingly weak, according to Corno.
Muraisi stated in a statement to Al Jazeera on December 29 that he had been “force-fed repression and stuffed with rage,” and that is why he is doing what he does now. After a year of imprisonment and human rights violations, I’m raising awareness of the unjust application of UK laws by our government. “Keep fighting, keep going.”
According to the protest group Prisoners For Palestine, Muraisi’s trial is scheduled for June 2026.
Heba Muraisi [Patenters for Palestine] Courtesy of Prisoners for Palestine.
Ahmed, Kamran
Ahmed, 28, is being detained in HMP Pentonville in north London along with him in November 2024. He was also detained for allegedly helping to raid Elbit Systems in Bristol. Ahmad has been on a hunger strike for more than 50 days.
Ahmed is a mechanic, according to a report from Middle East Eye.
Ahmed refused to eat and was taken to the hospital for a third time on December 20, according to his sister Shahmina Alam.
In late December, Alam told Al Jazeera, “We know that he’s been losing weight quickly, losing up to half a kilogramme [1.1 lbs] per day.”
Ahmed, who is 180cm (5′11′), entered prison at a healthy 74kg (163lbs), but his last recorded weight was 60kg (132lbs).
Corno reported that Kamran had recently been in a fourth hospital.
Ahmed, Kamran [Courtesy of Prisoners for Palestine]
Teuta Hoxha
Hoxha, 29, was on Thursday’s day 54 of her hunger strike. At HMP Peterborough, she is being held. She was also detained in November 2024 on suspicion of part in the Elbit Systems raid.
On the day UK parliamentarians approved propping up Palestine Action – July 2, 2025, Hoxha was moved, according to Prisoners for Palestine, from HMP Bronzefield.
Corno revealed to Al Jazeera that she has been experiencing heart palpitations and that she regularly communicates with Hoxha. She has been unable to sleep for weeks straight at night. Her memory seems to be starting to deteriorate.
Hoxha said in a statement posted on the Prisoners for Palestine website that “this is a witch hunt, not a fair fight, and that the palpably desperate attempt to force us all under the imperial boot of submission” is behind the arrests of dissenting voices under counterterrorism powers, holding us on remand without trial for nearly two years, and targeting protesters who condemn Palestinian suffering.
Courtesy of Prisoners for Palestine, Teuta Hoxha.
Chiaramello, Lewie
Because of his type 1 diabetes, Chiaramello, 22, has been fasting each day. He is currently on his hunger strike’s 28th day.
According to Prisoners for Palestine, he has been detained in HMP Bristol since July 2025 in connection with a RAF Brize Norton incident and is accused of conspiring to enter a restricted area for purposes defaming the UK’s safety and interests as well as conspiring to commit criminal damage. His trial is set for January 18, 2027.
A group of Palestine Action activists reportedly caused $ 9.4 million worth of damage by sprayed red paint on two military aircraft at the largest Royal Air Force base in Oxfordshire on June 20 when they broke into RAF Brize Norton.
Corno explained that he has been relying on his own, without the aid of any medical advice.
Chiaramello, Lewie [Courtesy of Prisoners for Palestine]
Who else has been on a hunger strike?
Four more Palestine Action prisoners have resumed their hunger strikes, the majority of which have taken place after being hospitalized.
At Bronzefield prison in Surrey are Qesser Zuhrah, 20, and Amu Gib, 30, both of whom are detained. The pair began their hunger strikes on November 2 to coincide with Britain’s commitment to Palestine as a Jewish nation in the Balfour Declaration of 1917.
