Tuesday, 23 December 2025

Author: AFP

Barca beat Iniesta’s Kobe

KOBE (Japan): Carles Perez scored his first two goals for Barcelona as the Spanish giants won 2-0 against a Vissel Kobe side featuring Andres Iniesta, a legend of the Catalan club. As Kobe’s Iniesta, David Villa and Sergi Samper were all reunited with their former team, it was Perez who

De Bruyne, Sterling on target in Man City win

YOKOHAMA (Japan): Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and Lukas Nmecha were all on target as Premier League champions Manchester City wrapped up their Asian tour with a 3-1 win over Japan’s Yokohama Marinos on Saturday. Bernardo Silva fed De Bruyne for the game’s opener in front of 65,000 fans at

Inter edge Neymar-less PSG on penalties

MACAU: Portuguese midfielder Joao Mario scored the final spot-kick as Inter Milan beat Neymar-less Paris Saint-Germain on penalties in Macau on Saturday. With their want-away Brazilian superstar left out of the trip to the former Portuguese colony, PSG were seconds from victory before Samuele Longo’s injury-time equaliser made it 1-1.

Protesters ‘educating’ visitors at Hong Kong airport

HONG KONG: Hundreds of Hong Kong protesters, including flight attendants, held a rally in the airport’s arrival hall yesterday to “educate” visitors about the demonstrations currently roiling the international finance hub as it braces for another weekend of protests. The cavernous hall is usually filled with excited friends and relatives

Iran frees Indian crew from seized tanker

NEW DELHI: Iran has freed nine of 12 Indian crew from a Panama-flagged tanker seized on July 14, India’s foreign ministry said yesterday. Iran had accused the MT Riah ship of smuggling contraband fuel when it was detained, amid mounting tensions between the Iranian government and both Britain and the

Taiwan presidential smuggling scandal engulfs China Airlines

TAIPEI: A smuggling scandal implicating Taiwan’s presidential bodyguards has engulfed China Airlines after the island’s largest carrier revealed huge quantities of duty-free cigarettes were routinely sold to staff accompanying the island’s leader on visits overseas. The scam — which was first unveiled earlier this week — appears to have gone

Japan police raid arson attack suspect’s residence

TOKYO: Japanese police yesterday raided the home of the main suspect in a deadly arson attack that killed 34 people at an anime firm in Kyoto, media reports said. The suspect, identified publicly by police in a rare move as Shinji Aoba, reportedly remains in hospital in serious condition with

N. Korea says new missile a warning

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has said two missiles fired under his supervision were newly designed tactical weapons that sent a “solemn warning” to the South over plans to hold military drills with the United States. Thursday’s missile tests were the first since Kim and US President Donald

Seven dead tigers found in car

HANOI:  A haul of frozen tiger carcasses found in a car in Hanoi has led to the arrest of a key wildlife trafficking suspect, Vietnamese state media said yesterday, as the country tries to tackle a well-worn smuggling route from Laos. Nguyen Huu Hue, who is believed to have smuggled

EU defies Johnson push for Brexit rewrite

BRUSSELS: The European Union on Thursday flatly rejected an aggressive push by Britain’s new prime minister Boris Johnson to rewrite the Brexit agreement. Chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier warned EU member states that Johnson was trying to divide them by amping up the threat of a damaging “no-deal” divorce. And