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Morocco claims AFCON case closed, despite Senegal appeals to CAF and CAS

Morocco claims AFCON case closed, despite Senegal appeals to CAF and CAS

Morocco believe their successful appeal against their 1-0 defeat by Senegal means the case of the AFCON crown is closed. Published On 28 Mar 202628 Mar 2026 Senegal may still possess the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) trophy and have launched a legal battle against the decision to strip them of it, but as far as new champions Morocco are concerned, the case is closed. Although the Atlas Lions lost 1-0 in the January final, the Confederation of African Football awarded them a 3-0 victory last week because of several Senegal players leaving the pitch in protest at the award of a penalty. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list Morocco drew 1-1 against Ecuador on Friday in a friendly in Madrid, in their first match since the final and the controversial decision to punish Senegal. It was new coach Mohamed Ouahbi’s first game at the helm, just three months out from the 2026 World Cup. After becoming the first African side to reach the final four in Qatar in 2022, expectations are high for Morocco, and they are looking to the future, despite Senegal’s outrage. “We’re focused on what’s to come and not getting into that [topic],” Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou told reporters. “The answer from us [about whether the decision was fair] would be what our federation said, and that’s all … we’re looking forwards.” Thousands of Morocco fans, many draped in their country’s flag and tooting vuvuzelas, are convinced justice was served. “If someone says there are regulations, you have to follow them,” said Yassine el-Aouak, 35, a Morocco supporter who travelled to the game from Italy. “I think we will bring the trophy home [eventually] – we know that we deserve it.” Before being awarded victory against Senegal, Morocco had won the Africa Cup of Nations only once, in 1976. Advertisement “The rules are the rules … they are so clear, you go outside the pitch without any reason, you lose 3-0,” said another Morocco supporter, Taha El Hadiguy, 22. “It’s very different to winning on the night of the final, to win two months later, but a win is a win. We have one more star on our shirt.” Like the players, the Moroccan media was more concerned with the upcoming World Cup and Ouahbi’s tactical approach than whether Senegal are right to feel aggrieved. Ecuador’s coach Sebastian Beccacece said his were satisfied with a draw against the “African champions”. Ouahbi’s team are now technically unbeaten in 25 matches, despite falling 1-0 on a dramatic night in Rabat against Senegal in the AFCON final. They lacked precision in attack against Ecuador, but Ouahbi, who led Moroccan youngsters to Under-20 World Cup glory last year, highlighted the strength of his team. “I don’t talk in terms of weaknesses. They’re not weaknesses. We are a top-level team – the Ecuadorian coach reminded us of that,” Ouhabi told reporters. “If you are a top-level team, ranked eighth in the world and World Cup semifinalists, you don’t have weaknesses. “You only have strengths, and then any qualities we’re missing, areas where we’re not performing, we have to make up for collectively.” Morocco will face record five-time World Cup winners Brazil in their first game at the tournament this summer on June 13, one of the most intriguing match-ups of the group phase. Before then, the Moroccan Federation’s lawyers may have to defend their status as African champions against Senegal’s case, but Ouahbi and his players are only looking forward to the summer, when they have a chance to win another trophy, this time on the pitch. Adblock test (Why?)

One month in, disapproval high but US lawmakers take no action on Iran war

One month in, disapproval high but US lawmakers take no action on Iran war

Washington, DC – A new war in the Middle East and the knock-on effect of rising petrol prices have roiled the United States public, according to a slate of polls, but a month into the US-Israeli war on Iran, lawmakers have shown little appetite to rein in the conflict. That was evidenced earlier this week when the US Senate again failed to pass a so-called War Powers resolution to curtail US President Donald Trump’s ability to unilaterally prosecute the war, which began with US and Israeli strikes on February 28. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list The vote failed in the Republican-controlled chamber, 53-47, the same as on March 4, with senators voting along party lines, save for one Republican, Rand Paul, voting in favour, and one Democrat, Jon Fetterman, voting against. Democrats in the chamber have promised to hold a weekly vote to force the issue. Meanwhile, despite evidence that Democrats in the US House of Representatives, which is also slimly controlled by Republicans, have the votes to pass their own War Powers resolution, the party’s leadership has reportedly backed away from holding a vote. That shows potential wariness about compelling party members to stake a position beyond “token opposition” as the Trump administration continues to prosecute the controversial war, according to Jamal Abdi, the president of the National Iranian American Council. “There are [members of Congress] who are stuck between their support from the pro-Israel lobby and other political factors and the fact of this war being so unpopular,” Abdi told Al Jazeera. Advertisement “I also think that there’s this view that Trump is suffering. He’s bleeding out politically, and they don’t want to stem the bleeding.” Approaching the one-month mark, the Trump administration has not articulated a unifying endgame for the conflict, instead hailing the degradation of Iran’s military capabilities and the assassination of top officials. Observers have warned that the war appears to have entered a phase of attrition that strategically favours Iran, in which, as the US director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has said, “the regime remains intact but largely degraded”. Polls continue to show widespread disapproval of the war, with a Reuters/Ipsos poll on Wednesday showing 61 percent disapproval compared with 35 percent approval. Trump’s overall approval rating slumped to 36 percent this week, the lowest since he took office. An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research also released on Wednesday found 59 percent of Americans felt US military action in Iran had been excessive. Over the last week, Trump continued to send conflicting messages on the war, claiming ongoing – if disputed talks – with Iranian officials and releasing a ceasefire plan that Tehran has since rejected. That came as the Pentagon deployed yet more US troops to the region, further raising the prospect of a ground invasion. Republican unity? For their part, Republican lawmakers have so far broadly fallen behind Trump, with many of the party’s top members cheering the US military effort and embracing Trump’s claims that the conflict will be a weeks-long affair. “Republicans writ large, but for [US Representative] Thomas Massie and maybe Rand Paul, are going to support anything Donald Trump does,” Eli Bremer, a Republican strategist and former Colorado US Senate candidate, told Al Jazeera. “Everybody is very, very entrenched in their positions – but things could change.” Given the fickle nature of public opinion in the US, he argued, Republicans appear to be assessing that the short-term pain will not necessarily result in major political fallout in the midterm elections in November if Trump can claim some degree of victory in the weeks ahead. The main test will be if Trump is able to secure the Strait of Hormuz, even if it requires a boots-on-the-ground deployment, and in turn stabilise global oil markets to create the perception that the US has “brought Iran to its knees”, he said. “On the flip side, if it goes on for another eight weeks or three months or some undetermined period of time, and gas prices in the US keep going up and up and up, then Democrats will use that to say Trump said he was was going to avoid ‘unending wars’, and look what he’s gotten us into,” Bremer said. Advertisement Polls have generally shown higher support for the war among Republicans, with the AP-NORC poll released on Wednesday finding that about half say the US military action has been “about right”. A quarter said the war had “gone too far”. Funding friction and MAGA dissent? One nascent point of inter-party friction has been US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s recent appeal for $200bn to fund the war, which some Republicans have seen as antithetical to Trump’s “America First” pledge. “The answer on most of this is: I don’t know,” centrist Republican Lisa Murkowski recently told reporters in reference to the funding request. She called for an open hearing in the case. Representative Lauren Boebert, who was once seen as a rising star in Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, told reporters she was “tired of the Industrial War Complex getting our hard-earned tax dollars”. Eric Burlison, another US Representative who has hewed closely to MAGA, called for the Pentagon to pass an audit before he would support more funding for the war. Nancy Mace, meanwhile, said following a House Armed Services briefing on Iran on Wednesday: “Let me repeat: I will not support troops on the ground in Iran, even more so after this briefing.” For his part, Senator Lindsey Graham, a longtime Iran hawk, pledged to push ahead with a so-called “reconciliation bill” to provide the funding. The controversial legislative mechanism would allow the Senate to pass the funding bill with a simple majority of 51 Republicans, rather than the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. Just how meaningfully the war has divided Trump’s base remains unclear. Top dissenters include influential figures such as Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, who have been vocal critics of the war, the apparent influence

Three journalists killed in Israeli strike on marked press car in Lebanon

Three journalists killed in Israeli strike on marked press car in Lebanon

Lebanon’s president condemns ‘blatant crime’, as Israeli attacks kill more journalists Published On 28 Mar 202628 Mar 2026 Three Lebanese journalists have been killed in an Israeli air strike on their clearly marked press vehicle in southern Lebanon. Other journalists were wounded in the attack, and one paramedic was killed. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list Fatima Ftouni and her brother and colleague, Mohammed, of Al Mayadeen and Al-Manar’s Ali Shuaib were killed on Saturday on the Jezzine Road when, according to Al Mayadeen, four precision missiles hit the vehicle. When ambulances arrived, paramedics were also reportedly targeted, killing one. Al Mayadeen and Al-Manar have confirmed the deaths of their journalists. The Israeli military acknowledged the strike, claiming Shuaib was embedded within a Hezbollah intelligence unit and had been tracking Israeli troop positions in southern Lebanon. It also alleged he had been distributing Hezbollah propaganda. Al-Manar, his employer, described him as one of its most prominent war correspondents, having covered Israeli attacks on Lebanon for decades. Israel, which has killed more than 270 journalists in Gaza, often alleges that the reporters it targets are members of or are linked to armed groups without providing evidence. Neither network accepted Israel’s characterisation. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Israel had once again violated “the most basic rules of international law” by targeting civilians carrying out their professional duty. Citing the 1949 Geneva Conventions and UN Security Council Resolution 1738, he called it “a blatant crime that violates all norms and treaties under which journalists are granted international protection during armed conflicts”. Advertisement Prime Minister Nawaf Salam decried the attack as “a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law”. Six Al Mayadeen journalists killed in weeks For Ftouni, the war had already struck close to home. Earlier this month, her uncle and his family were killed in an Israeli strike, a loss she had reported on live television. Al Mayadeen has now lost six journalists since hostilities began. Farah Omar, Rabih Me’mari, Ghassan Najjar and Mohammad Reda were killed in earlier attacks. Lebanon’s Ministry of Health said 1,142 people have been killed and more than 3,300 injured in Israeli attacks since March 2 amid the rapidly widening regional conflict now entering a fourth week. Israeli troops have pushed further into the south, advancing towards the Litani River. Hezbollah has claimed dozens of operations against Israeli forces in the past 24 hours. An Israeli air raid in the southern Lebanese town of Deir al-Zahrani killed one Lebanese soldier, Lebanon’s National News agency reported. Saturday’s killings fit a pattern that press freedom organisations have been tracking with alarm. The Committee to Protect Journalists recorded a global high of 129 journalists killed in 2025, the most since it began collecting data over three decades ago, with Israel responsible for two-thirds of those deaths. It has now killed more journalists than any other nation in CPJ’s recorded history. A separate assault earlier this month killed Al-Manar’s political programmes director, Mohammad Sherri, in central Beirut. Adblock test (Why?)

West Bengal Election 2026: Mamata Banerjee accuses BJP of instigating Raghunathganj riot , says ‘All my rights have been…’

West Bengal Election 2026: Mamata Banerjee accuses BJP of instigating Raghunathganj riot , says ‘All my rights have been…’

Following the riot in Raghunathganj on Ram Navami, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of ‘instigating’ it, while citing the transfer of police officers ahead of the state elections. Her statement comes as the state prepares for the upcoming Assembly Election, with her confidently stating that, despite these riots, she will win