Category World News

Cole Palmer scored twice and fed Joao Pedro for a goal as Chelsea overwhelmed Paris Saint-Germain in the first half and beat the European champions 3-0 in the final of the first expanded FIFA Club World Cup.

Palmer had almost identical left-footed goals from just inside the penalty area in the 22nd and 30th minutes on Saturday, and then sent a through pass that enabled Pedro to chip goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma in the 43rd for his third goal in two starts with the Blues.

“It’s a great feeling. Even better, because everyone doubted us before the game. We knew we had to put up a fight against a great team,” player of the match Palmer said afterwards.

A 23-year-old who joined Chelsea from Manchester City two years ago, Palmer scored 18 goals this season.

PSG finished a man short after Joao Neves was given a red card in the 84th minute for pulling down Marc Cucurella by his hair. After a testy final few minutes, the teams needed to be separated as PSG coach Luis Enrique and Donnarumma pushed Pedro near the centre circle.

A heavy favourite who had outscored opponents 16-1, PSG had been looking to complete a quadruple after winning Ligue 1, the Coupe de France and its first Champions League title.

Before a tournament-high crowd of 81,188 at MetLife Stadium, which included United States President Donald Trump, Chelsea showed the energy of a fourth day of rest after its semifinal, one more than PSG.

Chelsea had finished fourth in the Premier League and won the third-tier UEFA Conference League. The Blues took the world title for the second time after 2021, when it was a seven-team event. The Blues earned $128.4m to $153.8m in prize money, the amount depending on a participation fee FIFA has not disclosed.

PSG had not lost by three goals since a 4-1 Champions League defeat at Newcastle in October 2023.

Chelsea went ahead in the 22nd after goalkeeper Robert Sanchez kicked the ball downfield and Nuno Mendes mis-hit his header 15 yards past the midfield stripe towards his own goal. Malo Gusto’s shot was blocked by Lucas Beraldo, and rebounded to Palmer, who ended PSG’s streak of 436 minutes without conceding.

Palmer doubled the lead in the 30th when he ran onto a long ball from Levi Colwill, and cut inside before shooting.

Chelsea heads into the 2025-26 season, which starts in less than five weeks, believing it can challenge Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal for the Premier League title.

United States President Donald Trump has informed Mexico and the European Union that they face tariffs of 30 percent starting next month.

This has created shock and is raising fears of an all-out trade war, but both Mexico and the EU say they want talks to continue.

So, what is Trump’s strategy – and what are the risks?

Presenter: James Bays

Guests:

Niall Stanage – columnist for The Hill

Greg Swenson – chairman of Republicans Overseas UK

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has suspended his police minister “with immediate effect” over corruption allegations, a week after a provincial police chief made the accusations.

In a country facing endemic corruption, Sunday’s announcement was highly anticipated after a week of speculation over the fate of Senzo Mchunu, who became police minister a year ago after the general elections.

Mchunu, 67, who local media had suggested as a potential candidate from the centrist faction of the African National Congress (ANC) to succeed Ramaphosa, has rejected the allegations as “insinuations made without evidence or due processes”.

Ramaphosa also established a judicial commission of inquiry, with reports expected after three and six months.

“The commission will investigate the role of current or former senior officials in certain institutions who may have aided or abetted the alleged criminal activity, failed to act on credible intelligence or internal warnings, or benefitted financially or politically from a syndicate’s operations,” Ramaphosa said during a televised address.

Widespread corruption claims

KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi alleged on July 6 that Mchunu received payments from a corruption suspect.

Mkhwanazi also accused him of having played a role in dismantling a team investigating killings that shielded politically connected people.

The commissioner, speaking at a media briefing flanked by armed security forces, some with their faces masked, said he had opened a criminal investigation into the minister. He also accused other officials of obstructing police work against organised crime.

Mkhwanazi himself is under investigation for allegations of corruption in the awarding of a bulletproof vest contract, the weekly Sunday Times reported.

Firoz Cachalia, a law professor and member of the governing ANC, has been appointed as the interim police minister.

South Africa ranks 82nd in the world, according to the corruption perception index of the NGO Transparency International.

Most opposition parties on Sunday criticised Ramaphosa for putting Mchunu on a leave of absence instead of firing him.

Nigeria’s former President Muhammadu Buhari has died in London at the age of 82 following a long illness.

“President Buhari died today in London at about 4:30pm (15:30 GMT) following a prolonged illness,” President Bola Tinubu’s spokesperson announced on Sunday via the social media platform X.

Buhari made history in 2015 when he became the first opposition candidate in Nigeria’s modern era to defeat a sitting president at the polls, unseating Goodluck Jonathan in what was widely praised as the country’s most credible election.

A retired major general, Buhari first ruled Nigeria in the 1980s after taking power in a military coup. He later rebranded himself as a civilian politician, adopting a softer image in flowing kaftans and declaring himself a “converted democrat”.

Known for his austere style and fiery rhetoric against corruption, Buhari was seen by his supporters as a reformer. “I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody,” he often declared, seeking to position himself above Nigeria’s entrenched political factions.

Yet his presidency struggled to contain rising insecurity. While he promised to defeat Boko Haram and restore order, armed violence spread far beyond the northeast. Gunmen, separatists, and criminal groups operated with impunity across large parts of the country by the end of his tenure.

Still, Buhari leaves behind a legacy as a symbol of democratic change in Nigeria, even if the transformation he promised remained incomplete.

A mixed legacy

Buhari is being remembered as both a pivotal figure in the country’s democratic evolution and a deeply flawed leader when it came to economic management and security.

Speaking to Al Jazeera from London, Alexis Akwagyiram, managing editor at Semafor and a longtime observer of Nigerian politics, said Buhari will be remembered for achieving what many thought impossible: winning power as an opposition candidate.

“He was the first opposition candidate since the return to civilian rule to win at the ballot box,” Akwagyiram said, referencing Buhari’s 2015 victory over Jonathan. “History will remember him favourably for that.”

Yet Akwagyiram was blunt about the failings that marked Buhari’s time in office. He described the former general as “very ineffective” in managing Nigeria’s economy, citing his insistence on maintaining a strong naira, which led to a convoluted system of multiple exchange rates and two recessions during his tenure.

“His handling of the economy wasn’t great,” Akwagyiram noted, pointing to his fallout with former Niger Delta insurgents that led to renewed attacks on oil infrastructure. Combined with low global oil prices and the COVID-19 pandemic, these factors pushed Nigeria – once Africa’s largest economy – down to fourth place.

On security, Buhari’s record was equally disappointing, Akwagyiram said. Although elected with a promise to crack down on Boko Haram, an insurgency in Nigeria’s northeast only expanded under his leadership. A rival faction, the ISIL affiliate in West Africa Province (ISWAP), also emerged and spread, while armed kidnapping gangs flourished in the northwest.

“All that happened was Boko Haram and ISWAP both proliferated under his tenure,” Akwagyiram said. “The armed forces were spread thin across the country and became weakened overall.”

Despite the criticisms, Akwagyiram highlighted why Buhari resonated so strongly with many Nigerians. “He had the personal brand of integrity and honesty,” he said. “In a political climate renowned for corruption, that was appealing.”

Buhari’s austere image and northern support base helped him build a national coalition that twice propelled him to the presidency, a rare feat in Nigerian politics.

Wimbledon, United Kingdom – It has taken Jannik Sinner just five weeks to exact revenge against Carlos Alcaraz in their blockbuster tennis rivalry and win the men’s singles final at Wimbledon 2025.

The top-seeded Italian overcame the emotional and physical toll of losing the French Open final to Alcaraz by defeating the Spaniard 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London on Sunday.

Sinner turned the tables on the defending champion by overcoming a loss in the first set – and some early nerves – to win his fourth Grand Slam trophy and first on the famous Centre Court at SW19.

Two-time champion Alcaraz began the final with a strong service game, pouncing on Sinner’s nervous start in his first appearance in a Wimbledon final. The 22-year-old went on to break the world number one’s serve and wrap up the first set in 45 minutes, deploying a serve-and-volley style strategy to win the crucial points.

Sinner dug deep in the second set and was back to his ice-cool self as he applied the brakes on Alcaraz’s attempt for a three-peat of titles at Wimbledon.

The quality of tennis went up a notch as the 23-year-old matched Alcaraz shot for shot and left the crowd gasping at every other point.

Sinner didn’t waste much time in breaking back against the defending champion by deploying an excellent service game to keep Alcaraz at bay, altering his speed and delivery to ensure his opponent scurried for every point. He was soon on level terms.

The third set was, by far, the highlight of the final as both players threw everything at each other with sensational court coverage, scintillating aces, sublime drop shots and even a “tweener”.

It was end-to-end action up until the eighth game, when Alcaraz slipped up by the barest of margins but ended up having his serve broken. Sinner wasted no time to bring out his ruthless streak and finish off Alcaraz’s chances in the set.

Leading the final two sets to one, Sinner stepped on the gas in the fourth and ensured there would be no late Alcaraz comeback as so memorably occurred in the French Open final on June 8.

He broke Alcaraz in the third game, and the stoic Italian showed a glimpse of emotion as he looked towards his team in the stands.

Crowd favourite Alcaraz had most of the capacity crowd on Centre Court behind him, including King Felipe of Spain, but it was not enough to help him stay in the final for one more set as Sinner sealed the trophy with a faultless service game.

‘Dream of a dream’

With joy and disbelief etched on his face, and with the match now over, Sinner raised both arms with a jolt before squatting down on the court to pat the grass with the other hand, all the while hiding the emotions on his face.

Not only did he avenge his French Open final loss with a fourth major trophy, Sinner also moved to within one Grand Slam title of his great contemporary Alcaraz.

The two-time Australian Open champion has become the first man from Italy to win the Wimbledon title, a feat he described as akin to “a dream of a dream”.

“I had never thought of being in this position [to win Wimbledon] growing up so far away from here,” an unusually emotional Sinner said on court after the match.

“I had a very tough loss in Paris, but I tried to understand what I did wrong and kept working [hard].”

Sinner has now won Grand Slam titles on two of the three surfaces and said he was happy to have held his nerve while serving for the championship in the fourth set. Alcaraz, ever the gracious opponent in defeat as in victory, kept up his applause for Sinner even after returning to his chair after losing the match. But he said it was a difficult loss.

“I love playing here and I’m going to be back for sure,” the Spaniard told his fans on Centre Court.

Both players walked off to a loud round of applause after providing yet another enthralling glimpse into another “golden era” of tennis.

Sinner and Alcaraz have won all seven Grand Slam finals since the beginning of 2024, and it will only be a matter of eight weeks until tennis fans can hope to see the next instalment of their flourishing rivalry at the last Grand Slam of the year, the US Open.