Category World News

“The 25-year-old Egyptian striker has completed a move to the Etihad Stadium on a four-and-a-half-year deal, meaning he will remain at the Club until the summer of 2029,” City said in a statement on Thursday.

“This is a day I will never forget,” Marmoush said after signing up with the English Premier League champions.

“To sign for Manchester City – one of the best teams in the world – is an amazing feeling. I am delighted, my family are so proud, and we are all very happy to be here in Manchester.

“With Pep, his technical staff and the world-class facilities here, players have everything they need to improve. That was really enticing for me when I had the chance to come here. ”

Marmoush is City’s third signing of the January transfer window following the arrivals of defenders Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis.

The former Bundesliga star’s contract is understood to include a potential further $5m in add-ons.

Our new number 7️⃣ pic. twitter. com/jyahrzq5Nr

Born in Cairo in 1999, Marmoush stood out early in the academy of club Wadi Degla in the Egyptian Premier League.   At just 17, he was promoted to the first team and joined Wolfsburg’s reserves a year later.

At Wolfsburg, Marmoush initially struggled for consistency and game time, resulting in loans to St Pauli and Stuttgart.

The striker moved to Frankfurt on a free transfer before the 2023-2024 season and scored 12 goals in 29 league games.

Marmoush’s development has drawn inevitable comparisons to his compatriot Mohamed Salah, but the Liverpool superstar warned against such correlations.

“Omar has great potential and is an important player for his team and the national team currently, but I hope we stay away from the idea of comparisons because it will put him under pressure,” Salah said in November.

“Do not compare him to me. Do not say the ‘new Mohamed Salah’. Let him live his career. Comparing a player at the beginning of his career with another who has achieved a lot over many years does not help him. ”

City’s director of football Txiki Begiristain said Marmoush was an “accomplished and exciting forward”.

“He’s had an outstanding season, and every time we have watched him, he has influenced matches,” he said.

“He has all the attributes a top-class attacker requires. He has outstanding pace and awareness, and he is exceptional in front of goal. He can also play a number of different positions, which is a really valuable asset. ”

His arrival at the Etihad Stadium comes during a frustrating season for City.

City, champions for the past four seasons, are currently fifth in the Premier League, 12 points behind leaders Liverpool having played a game more.

One person has been killed and at least 24 wounded in a drone and missile attack on the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, regional officials said while blaming Russia for the attack.

More than 20,000 residents were also left without power and 17,000 without heating as a result of the overnight attack, according to Governor Ivan Fedorov, who said an energy facility had been destroyed.

He added that a 47-year-old man was killed in the attack and at least four emergency workers, as well as a two-month-old baby, were among those injured.

“Residential buildings… were damaged by a strike. The blast wave broke out windows and damaged a roof,” Fedorov said on Telegram.

Later, Ukraine’s military said it shot down 57 out of 92 drones launched by Russian forces’ overnight attack, adding that another 27 drones had been “locationally lost” and did not cause any damage.

Thursday’s deadly strike was the latest in an intensifying exchange in southern Ukraine, as both Moscow and Kyiv vie for advantage in the early days of US President Donald Trump’s administration.

On Wednesday, Trump stepped up the pressure on Vladimir Putin to make a peace deal with Ukraine, threatening tougher economic measures if Moscow does not agree to end the nearly three-year-old war.

Prior to his inauguration on Monday, Trump had pledged to end the Ukraine war immediately upon taking office, raising expectations he would leverage aid to force Kyiv to make concessions to Russia, which invaded in February 2022.

Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan, reporting from Kyiv, said Zaporizhzhia has come under intense fire in the last 24 hours, with an estimated 361 attacks taking place, including four ballistic missiles.

“The real concern now are the people who are without electricity. This is the middle of winter,” Khan said.

Earlier, Russia-installed officials in the partly occupied Zaporizhzhia region said at least four Ukrainian drones attacked Enerhodar, a city whose residents mostly serve in the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

Two electricity substations near Enerhodar were reportedly hit. There were no casualties and no details on damage were provided.

Russia had seized the nuclear plant, Europe’s largest with six reactors, in the early days of the war and each side has since accused the other of staging periodic attacks on the facility.

“This is a terrorist act,” Russia-installed Acting Mayor Maksim Pukha told Russia’s RIA news agency, saying civil infrastructure and residential areas had been hit. “Peaceful residents should in no way be targets of such an attack. ”

President Donald Trump says he will increase oil output and unleash the United States energy industry.

He’s also declared a national energy emergency.

While oil companies might be celebrating, Trump also pledged to roll back support for clean energy, spelling trouble for that sector.

He says his plans are aimed at achieving domestic prosperity and curbing inflation because oil and gas prices touch every part of the economy.

The measures could have serious implications across the entire energy landscape from oilfields to windfarms.

And big banks have pulled out of climate change groups.

Vietnam police say they have arrested five people and smashed a money laundering ring that brought $1. 2bn of criminal cash into the country from abroad.

Between 2022 and 2024, members of the ring – which included bank employees – forged identification cards and bank seals to establish 187 businesses, opening more than 600 corporate bank accounts, according to authorities.

The accounts were used to transfer and legalise money obtained through fraud or gambling abroad, police said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that total transactions amounted to about $1. 2bn.

The arrests – including one bank employee – were made in Da Nang, where police said it was the biggest money laundering case ever exposed in the central coastal city.

Police have seized 122 fake seals and original copies of 40 business registration certificates.

In October, Vietnamese property tycoon Truong My Lan was jailed for life on money laundering charges, although she is appealing the verdict.

The property developer had already been handed the death penalty for fraud totalling $27bn in a separate case.