Record holders, the Pharaohs of Egypt, have drawn first blood at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, becoming the first team to qualify for the Round of 16.
Egypt edged Bafana Bafana of South Africa 1–0 in a tense Group B clash, with Mohammed Salah keeping his nerve to convert a decisive penalty just before halftime in the 45th minute.
The narrow victory sealed Egypt’s place in the knockout stage and reaffirmed their status as tournament heavyweights.
Meanwhile, hosts Atlas Lions of Morocco missed the chance to secure back-to-back wins after the Eagles of Mali forced a 1–1 draw, slowing the hosts’ early momentum.
Elsewhere on Friday, Angola and Zimbabwe settled for a 1–1 draw, while Zambia and Comoros produced the tournament’s first goalless encounter.
Attention now shifts to Saturday, as the Super Eagles of Nigeria chase back-to-back victories when they face the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia at 9:00 p.m.
Other fixtures will see Benin Republic battle Botswana, Senegal clash with the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Uganda square off against Tanzania.
A ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants held overnight, following three days of violence.
Isolated weapons fire from both sides in the minutes before and just after the Sunday night deadline failed to derail the Egypt-brokered truce.
At least 44 people have died in the most serious flare-up since an 11-day conflict in May 2021.
US and United Nations leaders urged both sides to continue to observe the ceasefire.
In a statement, US President Joe Biden praised the truce and called on all parties “to fully implement [it] and to ensure fuel and humanitarian supplies are flowing into Gaza”.
He also urged reports of civilian casualties to be investigated in a timely manner.
The ceasefire was mediated by Egypt – which has acted as an intermediary between Israel and Gaza in the past – over the course of Sunday.
But as it came into effect late on Sunday, the Israeli military confirmed it was striking Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) targets in Gaza in response to rockets fired just before. Israeli media also reported some isolated rocket fire from Gaza in the minutes after the deadline.
But no further violence was reported as the night wore on.
The latest violence began with Israeli attacks on sites in the Gaza Strip, which its military said was in response to threats from a militant group. It followed days of tensions after Israel arrested a senior PIJ member in the occupied West Bank.
By Sunday evening, the Palestinian health ministry said that 15 children had been confirmed among the 44 deaths recorded in the latest violence. Gaza’s health ministry has blamed “Israeli aggression” for the deaths of Palestinians and for the more than 300 people wounded.
Israel accused PIJ militants of accidentally causing at least some of the deaths inside Gaza – claiming on Saturday that the group fired a stray rocket killing multiple children in Jabalia.
Concerns over the humanitarian situation in Gaza, where health officials warned that hospitals only had enough fuel to run generators for another two days, led to the ceasefire deal being agreed.
“We appreciate the Egyptian efforts that had been exerted to end the Israeli aggression against our people,” PIJ spokesman Tareq Selmi said.
Israel said that it “maintains the right to respond strongly” if the ceasefire is violated.
The latest conflict closely follows Israel’s arrest of Bassem Saadi, reported to be the head of PIJ in the West Bank, a week ago.
He was held in the Jenin area as part of an ongoing series of arrest operations after a wave of attacks by Israeli Arabs and Palestinians that left 17 Israelis and two Ukrainians dead. Two of the attackers came from the Jenin district.
Large crowds gathered on Sunday for the funerals of those killed in strikes on Rafah, in the south of the territory, including senior PIJ commander Khaled Mansour – the second top militant to have died. Demonstrations in support of Gaza have also been held in the West Bank city of Nablus.
PIJ, which is one of the strongest militant groups operating in Gaza, is backed by Iran and has its headquarters in the Syrian capital Damascus.
It has been responsible for many attacks, including rocket fire and shootings against Israel.
In November 2019, Israel and PIJ fought a five-day conflict following the killing by Israel of a PIJ commander who Israel said had been planning an imminent attack. The violence left 34 Palestinians dead and 111 injured, while 63 Israelis needed medical treatment.
Israel said 25 of the Palestinians killed were militants, including those hit preparing to launch rockets.
A court in Egypt has called for a legal amendment to allow live broadcasts of the execution of the killer of a female student.
Egyptians were horrified after video footage went viral last month purportedly showing Mohammed Adel stabbing to death Nayera Ashraf, who rejected his advances, outside her university.
In a letter to parliament, the court that sentenced the 22-year-old to death said the broadcast of even a part of the proceedings could achieve the goal of deterrence.
Egypt does not broadcast executions, which are always carried out by hanging inside prisons.
A 2015 United Nations survey said nearly eight million Egyptian women were victims of violence.
Super Eagles of Nigeria will be hoping to make it back to back wins at the ongoing Africa cup of Nations, AFCON in Cameroon when they face Sudan in their second group B match.
The Super Eagles, who had an impressive victory against the Pharaohs of Egypt in their opening match, are in high spirit ahead of today’s kick off at five o’clock in the evening.
Despite an head to head advantage, Super Eagles Interim Coach, Augustine Eguavoen has said his team would not underrate the Sudanese side.
In the other game of the day, Egypt would hope to bounce back from their defeat to Nigeria when they tackle Guinea Bissau at eight o’clock tonight.
In matches played yesterday, Senegal and Guinea played a goalless draw, Morocco beat Comoros by 2 goals to nil, Malawi came from behind to beat Zimbabwe 2-1, while Gabon scored a late equaliser to salvage a point against Ghana.
At least 32 people have been killed and more than 60 injured in a train crash in southern Egypt, the country’s railway authority says.
Two carriages were derailed and overturned when two passenger trains collided in the province of Sohag.
Emergency brakes were activated on the train in front by “unknown individuals”, causing the train behind to crash into it, the authority said.
Officials are investigating the cause of the crash.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said there would be serious consequences for anyone found responsible.
“Anyone who caused this painful accident through negligence or corruption, or anything similar, must receive a deterrent punishment without exception or delay,” he tweeted.
Photos from the scene show carriages overturned near a channel of water.
In a statement, the health ministry statement said that in addition to the fatalities, at least 66 people had been injured. A ministry spokesman told Reuters news agency that the number injured was 91.
“We need an official to come see what has happened. They can’t remove the people from underneath the trains,” a man at the scene told Reuters, adding that a crane was needed to help with rescue efforts.
“People are dead, we can’t even save the ones who are alive.”
Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly is travelling to the site of the crash with the ministers, state media reported.
Egypt has seen frequent accidents on its railway system due in part to poor maintenance and lack of investment.
One of the deadliest train disasters occurred in 2002 when 373 people died when a fire broke out in a carriage travelling south of Cairo.
A German tourist has died from the Coronavirus in Egypt, becoming the first fatality of Covid-19 to be recorded in Africa.
The 60-year-old had arrived in
Egypt a week ago and complained of a fever.
He was taken to a hospital in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada for treatment where he was diagnosed with Coronavirus.
The AFP news agency reports that
his breathing was affected by “acute pneumonia”.
The patient died after refusing
to be transferred to an isolation ward.
On Saturday, Egypt’s ministry of health announced that there were 45 new cases of Coronavirus involving travellers who were in a cruise ship, bringing the total to 48.
The ship was quarantined and the infected people were moved to an isolation facility in the North of the country.
Here are the latest numbers of confirmed Coronavirus cases in Africa:
A second person in Senegal has
tested positive for Coronavirus, the country’s health ministry confirms.
It says the patient is an
80-year-old French national who arrived in the West African country on 29
February.
He is being treated at the same
hospital for infectious diseases in the capital city, Dakar, where another Frenchman
was hospitalised for Coronavirus last week.
News of this second confirmed
case in Senegal brings the total number of confirmed cases on the African
continent to 12.
Other countries with patients who tested positive for the virus are Algeria – five people; Egypt- two people; Morocco – one person; Nigeria – one person and Tunisia – one person.
Senegal is one of the 33
sub-Saharan African nations with testing facilities for Coronavirus. The
authorities say they are well prepared to deal with the virus.
On Monday the World Health
Organization, WHO, told the BBC it expects the remaining 14 sub-Saharan nations
currently without testing equipment to gain facilities within a fortnight.
