europe

The EU’s election observer said the vote met democratic standards despite fraud allegations.

Peru’s presidential election result will not be finalised until mid-May, with challenged ballots from last Sunday’s vote still being reviewed, says the electoral authority.

With 93 percent of ballots counted, right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori leads with 17 percent, according to officials.

Under Peru’s electoral system, the top two candidates advance to a second-round runoff. A close contest has emerged for second spot between left-wing candidate, Roberto Sanchez on 12 percent, and ultra-conservative Rafael Lopez Aliaga close behind on 11.9 percent.

The margin between the two widened slightly on Saturday to about 13,600 votes.

Yessica Clavijo, secretary general of the National Jury of Elections (JNE), said the delay was due to the review of more than 15,000 challenged ballots. About 30 percent concern the presidential race, the rest relate to legislative elections.

Lopez Aliaga, a former mayor of the capital Lima, has been the most vocal critic of the delay. He has alleged fraud without presenting evidence and called for the election to be annulled. He urged supporters of his Popular Renewal Party to protest on Sunday.

Sanchez also criticised the election process, telling reporters: “These serious organisational issues must be investigated and there must be appropriate sanctions”.

A record 35 candidates ran for president in Peru, a country that has faced years of political instability. Four of its last eight presidents have been impeached by Congress.

Voting was disrupted by delays in the delivery of election materials, forcing authorities to extend polling into Monday in parts of Lima.

Despite the setbacks, the European Union’s election observer mission said the vote met democratic standards. On Friday, prosecutors raided a warehouse belonging to the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE), the body responsible for organising the election. Four officials have been reported to the JNE over alleged offences linked to voting rights.

Hundreds of far-right “Britain First” supporters marched in the streets of Manchester to celebrate Saint George, seemingly not realising the patron saint of England has a special connection to Palestine. Al Jazeera’s Nils Adler and Nida Ibrahim explain.

Bulgarians vote to elect a new parliament, after mass protests brought down the previous Conservative-led government in December.

Bulgarians have started voting in the eighth parliamentary election in five years after mass protests brought down the previous Conservative-led government in December.

Polling stations opened at 7am local time (0400 GMT) and are due to close at 1700 GMT, according to AFP journalists.

Sunday’s vote is significant as it could bring to power a left-leaning, pro-Russian former president Rumen Radev – just days after voters in Hungary rejected the authoritarian policies and global far-right movement of Viktor Orban, who cultivated close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The December protests drew hundreds of thousands of mainly young people to the streets. The protesters called for an independent judiciary to tackle widespread corruption.

Radev, a former air force general, has said he wants to rid the country of its “oligarchic governance model” and backed anti-corruption protests late last year that brought down the conservative-backed government.

He has advocated for renewing ties with Russia and criticised sending military aid to Ukraine. He resigned from the mainly ceremonial presidency in January to launch his bid to lead the government as prime minister.

He leads the newly formed centre-left grouping, Progressive Bulgaria. Opinion polls before Sunday’s vote suggested it could gain 35 percent of votes.

Since 2021, the nation of 6.5 million has struggled with fragmented parliaments that produced weak governments. None managed to survive more than a year before being brought down by street protests or backroom deals in parliament.

Real win the final of Spain’s premier annual knockout football competition with a dramatic penalty shootout in Seville.

Real Sociedad beat Atletico Madrid 4-3 on ⁠penalties to win the Copa ⁠del Rey on Saturday following a 2-2 draw after extra time, with goalkeeper Unai Marrero saving two spot kicks in the shootout to help his side win the trophy for the fourth time.

Sociedad last won the Cup in 2021, when the ⁠delayed 2020 final was also played at the La Cartuja stadium in Seville, but there were no supporters present due to the COVID pandemic.

This time, the Basque side’s fans were behind the goal to witness Marrero save Atletico’s first two penalties from Alexander Sorloth and Julian Alvarez.

Atletico keeper Juan Musso then ⁠stopped Orri Oskarsson’s kick, but Pablo Marin kept his nerve to net the winning penalty.

“I tried to clear my mind. Calm and serene,” Marin told RTVE. “Real is my life. I’ve lived here since I was a child. This is the greatest thing I could ever dream of – winning a title with the team of my life.”

The last time the two sides met in the final was 1987, when it also finished 2-2 with Sociedad coming out on top on penalties, ‌and they repeated the job to deny Atletico, who were looking for their first Copa del Rey win since 2013.

Ander Barrenetxea had given Sociedad the lead after 14 seconds, but Ademola Lookman levelled in the 19th minute. Mikel Oyarzabal then put the Basque side back in front with a penalty on the stroke of halftime.

Alvarez drew Atletico level, with seven minutes remaining, to force the extra period in a dramatic final.

Diego Simeone’s Atletico were fresh from reaching the Champions League semifinals, but Sociedad, managed by American Pellegrino Matarazzo, triumphed despite twice losing the lead.

Fast start

Sociedad stunned Atletico from the start. After a punt downfield from Marrero, Goncalo Guedes crossed into the box, and Barrenetxea rose above his marker to send a ⁠looping header beyond Musso.

Atletico levelled with Lookman collecting a pass from Antoine Griezmann and sending a precise low strike ⁠through the legs of a defender and into the far bottom corner.

Some Sociedad fans were celebrating, as they thought their side had retaken the lead when Guedes’s deflected shot flew into the side netting, but when Musso later fouled Guedes, captain Oyarzabal converted the penalty in first-half added time.

“I’ve never walked on water, but it must feel something like this,” said ⁠Oyarzabal, who scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot when his side won their last Copa.

Late drama

Sociedad looked like hanging on until Alvarez struck an unstoppable shot from just inside the area, letting Thiago ⁠Almada’s pass through his legs before turning to send the ball into the top corner.

In the ⁠opening period of extra time, Musso pulled off a double-save from Luka Sucic and Oskarsson, with Alvarez hitting the upright at the other end, as both sides created chances before running out of steam, and penalties beckoned.

Marrero danced across his line as the Atletico players lined up their penalties, and his mind games paid off.

“I knew that if it went to penalties, I had ‌a lot of confidence in myself,” he said.

“The team and the fans did, too. I still can’t believe it.”

Matarazzo has worked a remarkable turnaround at Sociedad since taking over in December, with the club hovering above the relegation zone but now seventh in the standings and, even more importantly, with ‌a ‌trophy to show for their work.

Simeone’s Atletico have one final chance of silverware, with a last-four meeting against Arsenal in the Champions League.

“We have a beautiful challenge ahead of us. We want the Champions League, and we’ll do everything possible to win it,” Atletico captain Koke said. “But tonight is a sad night.”

Manchester United strengthen grip on third spot in Premier League with 1-0 win that leaves Chelsea relying on favours.

Manchester United took a giant step towards ending a two-year exile from the Champions League as Matheus Cunha scored the only goal in a 1-0 win against Chelsea.

United’s victory on Saturday opens up a 10-point gap between the Red Devils in third place and sixth-placed Chelsea, with only 15 points left to play for this season.

The top five in the Premier League will qualify for the Champions League next season.

But a fourth consecutive league defeat leaves Chelsea’s chances of being back among Europe’s elite next season in tatters. It also piles pressure on manager Liam Rosenior, only three months into his reign.

Chelsea once again bemoaned the lack of a clinical striker as they failed to break down a makeshift United defence ravaged by injury and suspension.

United manager Michael Carrick was forced to name a backline featuring three full-backs and 19-year-old Ayden Heaven. But they held out to boost the former England midfielder’s case to get the job at Old Trafford beyond the end of this season.

Chelsea were missing their top scorer, Joao Pedro, through injury, and one-time United target Liam Delap failed to take his chance to shine up front.

Rosenior recalled Enzo Fernandez after the Argentinian was given a two-game suspension by the Blues for suggesting he would be open to a summer move to Real Madrid.

Fernandez started with a point to prove and came agonisingly close to the opener when he curled inches wide.

United looked rusty in a 2-1 defeat to Leeds on Monday, their first action for three and a half weeks.

But Carrick’s men repaired the damage done to their chances of returning to the Champions League next season.

Cunha provided a precise finish to open the scoring two minutes before the break from Bruno Fernandes’s 18th Premier League assist of the season.

Chelsea improved after the break but failed to prevent another damaging defeat, leaving Rosenior’s role in doubt heading into next season.

Delap crashed a header against the woodwork, and Noussair Mazraoui turned a dangerous cross onto his own bar, under pressure from Wesley Fofana.

Moises Caicedo, fresh from signing a new seven-year contract, also came close to rescuing a point for the hosts.

But the final whistle was met by a chorus of boos at full-time, with the Club World Cup winners looking resigned to Europa League football at best next term.

The attacker has been identified as a “58-year-old Moscow man”, but no motive has been established.

A gunman who killed at least six people in Kyiv and took hostages has been shot dead by Ukrainian police, officials said.

The attack occurred on Saturday in the capital’s Holosiivskyi district, where the assailant opened fire on civilians in the street before barricading himself inside a nearby supermarket, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.

Special tactical police units stormed the supermarket after roughly 40 minutes of failed negotiations, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on Telegram. The gunman shot at police officers during the standoff.

“We tried to persuade him, knowing that there was likely a wounded person inside,” Klymenko told The Associated Press news agency. “We even offered to bring in tourniquets to stop the bleeding, but he did not respond.”

Ultimately, authorities were given the order to “neutralise” the attacker, he said.

At least 10 others were hospitalised, including one child, and four hostages were rescued, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on X.

Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said the attacker was a 58-year-old born in Moscow.

Klymenko said the man was carrying a legally registered gun and had approached licensing authorities as recently as December 2025 to renew his weapons permit, submitting a valid medical certificate at the time. He added that investigators would determine which medical institution issued the document.

Zelenskyy offered his condolences to the families of the victims, saying he had instructed officials to make all verified information publicly available. “We expect a swift investigation,” he wrote.

Follow the live build-up, with full team news coverage, ahead of our text commentary stream of the crunch EPL clash.

Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has described the five permanent members of the UN Security Council as “Lords of War.” He called on them to stop acting like “emperors” and waging war on poorer countries.

On March 25, the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, the United Nations General Assembly passed a landmark resolution. Proposed by Ghana, it recognised the transatlantic slave trade as the “gravest crime against humanity” and called for reparations. A total of 123 countries supported the resolution; three opposed it, including the United States and Israel, while 52 abstained, Britain among them, and several European Union countries.

The UN’s slavery resolution is a historic moment, but what comes next is even more important. Leading up to the resolution, the African Union urged its 55 member states to pursue slavery reparations through formal apologies, the return of stolen artefacts, financial compensation, and guarantees of non-repetition.

This raises a question the resolution does not directly ask: reparations from whom, and to whom? If the answer is simply from European governments to African governments, then the reparations movement risks ignoring the long history of European engagement with Africa, and in doing so delivering justice to the wrong people.

What the reparations debate misses

The contemporary framing of the reparations debate is seductive in its simplicity: Europeans arrived in Africa, Africans were enslaved, Europeans grew rich, and Africans became impoverished. Therefore, Europe owes Africa. This narrative carries moral force, but it risks flattening the complex history of European engagement with the continent.

While European actors undeniably drove the demand for enslaved labour, African political and economic elites were not passive victims. They played a significant role in capturing, transporting and selling enslaved people to European traders.

In some cases, African states, seeking to expand their treasuries and consolidate territorial power, preyed on neighbouring communities, condemning them to enslavement for profit. The Oyo Empire, a powerful Yoruba state in what is now south-western Nigeria, expanded significantly in the eighteenth century through its participation in this commerce. Across the region, African elites who had the means sustained the system by exchanging enslaved people for European goods such as alcohol, textiles and other manufactured commodities.

None of this diminishes European culpability in the slave trade. The demand was European. The ships were European. The plantation system was European. The racialised ideology constructed to justify slavery was European. But it does complicate the story.

The transatlantic slave trade was not solely a narrative of African victimhood and European perpetration. It is a story of elite collaboration, which did not end when the slave ships stopped sailing.

The historical argument: three phases, one logic

European encounter with African societies can be understood in three broad phases, each distinct in form but similar in the underlying logic of collaborative extraction.

The first phase was slavery. Europeans extracted human labour from Africa, often with the active participation of African political rulers. Britain emerged as the world’s leading slave-trading country, transporting roughly 3.4 million Africans across the Atlantic between 1640 and 1807. The abolition of the British slave trade in 1807 marked the formal end of this phase. But abolition did not disrupt the underlying logic of the elite collaboration. It reshaped it.

The second phase was colonialism. A less understood aspect of European domination in Africa is how seamlessly some African rulers transitioned from collaborators during the slave trade to intermediaries in the colonial period.

In Nigeria, for example, regional African rulers became intermediaries for British administrators. As Nigerian historian, Moses Ochonu, demonstrates in Emirs in London, a study of Northern Nigerian Muslim aristocrats who travelled to Britain between 1920 and independence in 1960, these African figures were far from passive subjects of British rule. They actively leveraged their relationship with British authorities to reinforce their own authority at home. Such sponsored travel to the imperial centre helped solidify personal ties between Nigerian elites and British administrators, reinforcing the system of indirect rule.

The third and current phase is the postcolonial era. While formal empire has ended, the structure of elite alignment endures. In countries such as Nigeria, the majority of citizens remain largely excluded from political and economic power. The institutional successors of intermediaries and collaborators during the eras of slavery and colonial rule are now running the African postcolonial states.

Rather than dismantling extractive systems, many have repurposed them. Similar patterns of exclusion and extraction that defined earlier periods have been reproduced, leaving the majority of Africans short-changed by a system that continues to serve elite interests.

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu’s state visit to the United Kingdom last month – complete with royal ceremony, photo opportunities and symbolic gestures – reflected this relationship whose origins lie in the very history the UN resolution condemns. While the majority of Nigerians face difficult socio-economic conditions, the British government announced that Nigerian companies would create hundreds of new jobs in the UK.

This is not an anomaly but a continuation of the extractive logic that shaped the slave trade and colonialism. It endures, now recast in the language of diplomacy and partnership.

Reparations are just, and Britain’s debt is undeniable. But direction matters. If compensation flows from one set of elites to another, the oppressed majority of Africans will once again be excluded. True justice must run in two directions: from European states to formerly colonised societies, and from African elites to the citizens they continue to exploit.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

A maritime agency reported that a tanker was fired on by gunboats in the Strait of Hormuz. The United ⁠Kingdom ⁠Maritime Trade Operations agency says it received a report ⁠of a tanker being fired upon by what it ‌said were two gunboats linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. The vessel and ‌its crew were reported safe.

Leo is the third pontiff to visit the fossil fuel-rich country after John Paul II in 1992 and Benedict XVI in 2009.

Pope Leo XIV is set to arrive in Angola on the third leg of a landmark African tour that has unfolded alongside an escalating war of words with United States President Donald Trump over the Middle East conflict.

Leo, the third pontiff to visit the fossil fuel-rich country after John Paul II in 1992 and Benedict XVI in 2009, is expected to arrive at 3pm local time (14:00 GMT) on Saturday in the capital, Luanda, where billboards bearing his image have been erected to welcome him.

The pope, who visited Cameroon for three days before flying to Luanda, is also slated to meet Angola’s President Joao Lourenco and deliver a speech in the country, where about 44 percent of the population identifies as Catholic.

Leo’s increasingly forceful calls for world peace are likely to resonate in Angola, which emerged in 2002 from a 27-year civil war that erupted after independence from Portugal in 1975.

Throughout his Africa visit, the first pope from the US has issued pointed warnings about corruption, the exploitation of the continent’s vast resources and the dangers of artificial intelligence.

‘Stick to matters of morality’

The pope’s Africa visit has also been marked by a clash with Trump, who has called the 70-year-old head of the Catholic Church “weak on crime” and “terrible for foreign policy”. Trump had also shared what appeared to be an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus, prompting a backlash from leaders across the religious spectrum.

The pope had responded by saying he was not afraid of Trump and that he would continue to speak out against war, marking a rare public clash between a pontiff and a sitting US president.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Trump said he had the right to disagree with the pontiff. “I have no disagreement with the fact the pope can say what he wants, and I want him to say what he wants, but I can disagree,” he said.

After US Vice President JD Vance urged the Vatican to “stick to matters of morality”, Leo said on Thursday that the world was “being ravaged by a handful of tyrants” and intensified criticism of those using religion to justify war.

During his stop in Cameroon, Leo also urged the country’s leaders to tackle corruption and condemned “those who, in the name of profit, continue to seize the African continent to exploit and plunder it”.

Leo’s warnings against corruption and exploitation may resonate in Angola, where one-third of the population lives below the poverty line despite vast fossil fuel reserves.

On Sunday, he will celebrate an open-air Mass in Kilamba, outside Luanda, before travelling by helicopter to Muxima, home to a 16th-century church and major pilgrimage site.

On Monday, Leo is due to travel to Saurimo to visit a retirement home and hold another Mass. He will then fly to Equatorial Guinea, the final stop of his 18,000km (11,185-mile) African tour.

Discover L’Andana, a luxury Tuscan hotel set in a historic Medici villa in the heart of Maremma, Italy, offering Michelin-starred dining, ESPA spa treatments, pasta-making classes, and wine tastings amid stunning countryside views

When you picture Italy – undulating manicured hillsides, country lanes bordered by towering cypress trees, terracotta hamlets and sunlight glinting off church domes, it’s most likely Tuscany that springs to mind. From Florence’s misty cupolas to the wine-drenched estates of the Chianti hills, countless scenes from Tuscany align perfectly with our quintessential vision of holidays.

It would be tempting to think, given the abundance of Instagram-perfect shots of this Italian paradise, that the actual experience might fall short of expectations. Far from it – in truth, nothing matches the enchanting atmosphere when you’re witnessing its splendour first-hand. If you’re seeking a peaceful, authentic, cuisine-filled escape, this is your ideal destination, reports OK!

Why this stunning hotel is the ultimate Tuscany choice

We checked into the stunning L’Andana Hotel nestled in the heart of Maremma, a delightful, less-travelled corner of the region where Italians themselves love to holiday. We discovered that Maremma is dubbed the “wild west” of Tuscany, which became entirely understandable when we encountered cacti and herds of cattle with remarkably long horns. You’re unmistakably deep in the Italian countryside here.

L’Andana is a blissful retreat in the low hills, and arriving at the estate felt like those Tuscan roads you see in films, along a 2km-long driveway flanked by tall green trees on both sides. This former Medici villa, once the summer residence of Grand Duke Leopold II and his court, exudes a regal sense of grandeur. Decorated in warm shades of butter, mustard and ochre, with traditional Tuscan-style furnishings and sweeping windows that frame breathtaking views of the Maremma landscape, every detail delights. From the warm hospitality to the genuinely authentic atmosphere, it truly felt like a real “casa”.

Wine tasting at the hotel and local vineyards

Tuscany’s wine scene is as rich and layered as its scenery. Vineyards stretch out in virtually every direction, and it’s a real privilege to stay somewhere that cultivates its own grapes. The hotel produces its own wine on site and offers tasting sessions for guests, paired with a three-course light lunch. We also ventured beyond the resort to Petra, another winery under the same ownership as L’Andana’s, where yet more spectacular vistas — and vintages — awaited.

We dubbed the building there “the Tuscan Chichén Itzá”, owing to its remarkable architecture that bears a striking resemblance to one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

What to do around the grounds and in the spa

Despite its peaceful and unhurried atmosphere, there’s no shortage of things to keep you busy, with two swimming pools, tennis courts and a vast golf course all on offer. We chose ultimate relaxation with an ESPA massage, alongside a leisurely bike ride with an expert guide beyond the resort grounds. The scenery was utterly stunning and proved to be amongst the trip’s standout moments. These represent just a fraction of the numerous activities the hotel can organise for guests – they can also arrange horse riding, yoga sessions and beach excursions.

A pasta-making masterclass with an Italian chef

Food enthusiasts will thrive here, particularly with the gourmet offerings at L’Andana’s Michelin-starred La Trattoria Enrico Bartolini. To truly embrace the culinary culture, however, book a pasta making class with an Italian chef. We mastered the proper techniques and savoured our own freshly-made pasta with bolognese. There’s surely no finer location to learn the art of pasta making.

Discovering Castiglione della Pescaia: a coastal hidden gem

Each evening at the resort we’d spot twinkling lights in the distance; this, we learnt, was a charming little seaside town called Castiglione della Pescaia, merely a 15-minute drive from the hotel. We called in here while returning from the Petra winery, and it felt as though we’d stumbled upon a hidden treasure. It resembles one of those charming European towns featured in romantic comedies, brimming with winding, cobblestone lanes, pastel-painted houses with vibrant shutters, and lively eateries. We discovered one meandering pathway that guided us all the way down to a breathtaking view of the sea at sunset, with the entire landscape before us bathed in gold. It was the most spectacular conclusion to the day – and to this remarkable stay.

Planning a trip to Tuscany? Here’s how to book this hotel

Double rooms at L’Andana start from around £382 per night based on two sharing, including breakfast. Book at andana.it

Chocolate lovers will soon be able to enjoy a brand new theme park based on an iconic Swiss brand, and at the heart of it all will be a real-life working chocolate factory to explore

If you’ve got a serious sweet tooth, and spent your entire childhood reading and re-reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, then a new attraction could soon be top of your bucket list.

Switzerland is already a major destination for chocolate lovers and for many of them the highlight of the trip is visiting Maison Cailler in Broc, Gruyère. It’s where the iconic Cailler chocolate has been made since the late 19th-century, and is among the oldest chocolate factories in the world to still be in operation.

At the moment, chocolate lovers can visit the factory and take tours, and there’s already a museum on the history of Cailler. Guests can take a chocolate workshop to learn to make their own treats such as truffles, and of course, there are plenty of opportunities for tastings along the way.

Now, new plans could mean the chocolate factory will be just the start of the excitement for fans of the brand. While the current attraction is 2,000 m², there are plans for it to be expanded to nearly 30,000m², allowing for what its website bills as a “memorable sensory experience”. The plan is for a park that’ll take around four to six hours to explore, taking visitors on a “journey of discovery through cocoa”.

Around 400,000 visitors a year already visit the attraction, making it one of Switzerland’s most visited museums, and there are reports that the park could double this number in the first phase alone.

Plans also include a cable car to whisk visitors from the car park to the factory, and a ‘flying theatre’ that will allow for stunning views over the Swiss scenery. There will also be a huge cocoa greenhouse so visitors can see how chocolate is grown and harvested.

And if that’s not enough chocolate-themed fun, a new hotel will allow visitors to indulge their sweet tooth overnight. If the project goes forward, the first phase should be open by 2030.

Maison Cailler can be reached by train from Montreux, and even the journey itself has been designed for chocolate enthusiasts with a themed train that zips you across stunning Swiss landscapes. Most visitors from the UK fly to Geneva, just a 90 minute flight from the UK, with a number of services run by easyJet, TUI, and British Airways.

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Broc itself is worth spending some time in, whether it’s in the winter when the snowy Alps are at their most beautiful, or during the summer when the mountains are lush and green. Explore the fairytale-like Château de Gruyères whose stone walls are covered in ornate oil paintings and treasures.

Just down the road another of the area’s famous exports is made. At La Maison du Gruyère you can explore a working cheese factory and sample this distinctive local product. You can even take a tour and see the huge wheels of cheese being ripened to perfection.

Have a story you want to share? Email us at webtravel@reachplc.com

French President Emmanuel Macron said he welcomed the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and the Lebanon ceasefire, as the US and Iran declared the key waterway open. His comments came as European leaders discuss a post-war Hormuz maritime force.

Arsenal travel to Manchester City knowing their Premier League could be eradicated by next Wednesday.

Mikel Arteta has urged spluttering Arsenal to embrace the “huge privilege” of facing Manchester City in a potentially decisive showdown in the Premier League title race.

Arteta’s side are six points clear of second-placed City ahead of their blockbuster clash at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

But City have a game in hand on the Gunners and a victory for Pep Guardiola’s men would tilt the balance of power in their favour heading into the final weeks of the season.

Adding to the drama of the do-or-die battle, Arsenal are enduring an untimely loss of form after losing three of their last five games in all competitions.

They were beaten by City in the League Cup final, suffered a shock FA Cup quarterfinal exit at second-tier Southampton and slumped to a home league defeat against Bournemouth.

The Gunners were well below their best once again on Wednesday when they edged past Sporting Lisbon, drawing 0-0 to secure a 1-0 aggregate victory in the Champions League quarterfinals.

But, despite criticism of Arsenal’s perceived mental weakness under pressure, Arteta is convinced his players have the right character to take a huge step towards winning the Premier League.

“We have earned the right to be in this position and to be challenging, with an opportunity to win against arguably the best team and best manager this league has ever seen,” Arteta told reporters on Friday.

“That is a huge privilege. We see this as a big opportunity for us. Who is more privileged to be in this position?

“I don’t know how Pep and Man City are feeling, but I feel very privileged to have earned the right to be in this position to play such a big and great game.”

Arsenal are chasing a first English title since 2004 after finishing as runners-up for the last three seasons.

In 2023 and 2024, they squandered substantial leads that allowed City to pip them to the title.

But Arteta knows that beating City this weekend would put Arsenal in a virtually unassailable position of strength.

“Winning at this stage, then you are a bit closer,” he said.

“There are six games to go. Obviously, it is a really important one for both teams.

“It will incline the balance a little bit, but winning a game in the Premier League is so tough for everybody.”

Arsenal ‘prepare to win’ against Man City

Arteta has challenged Arsenal to learn from the pain of their League Cup loss to City in a rematch with even higher stakes.

“The pain we felt afterwards, [we need] to use that the right way on Sunday,” he said. “To learn from that game and the things that we want to change for the next one.”

Arteta refused to deny a report that a fire was lit at the club’s training ground this week in a motivational ploy after he told his team to play with “pure fire” against Sporting.

“Every game we use different themes to try and prepare for the game in the best possible way, and that depends on what we do,” he said.

“The best ones are the players’ initiative; those are the ones I love the most.”

Arsenal have failed to win any of their past 10 league games at the Etihad Stadium, losing seven of those meetings, in a barren run stretching back to 2015.

Arteta dismissed suggestions that he could tell Arsenal to play for a draw to maintain their six-point lead over City.

“We prepare every game to win, that is why we are where we are, and we are going to continue to do the same,” he said.

⁠Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola ⁠has called Sunday’s Premier League clash with leaders Arsenal a final, saying defeat would end his side’s title hopes before the much-anticipated showdown at the Etihad Stadium.

City trail Arsenal by six points but have a game in hand, ⁠and victory would cut the gap while ramping up the pressure as the race enters its decisive phase.

Guardiola, however, said there was little room for error, acknowledging that anything less than three points would leave his team facing too steep a climb.

“Yes, obviously,” the Spaniard added on whether he sees ⁠the game as a final. “If we lose, it is over.”

Despite the fine margins, Guardiola said City are confident, stressing that belief is crucial at this stage of the season.

“If you could buy confidence in a supermarket, we would buy it immediately. It is one of the most important aspects,” he told a news conference. (Our confidence) is good. We are ready,” he added.

“A month ago, because we dropped points in moments, I thought we would not be here. (But) we ‌saw the calendar and said, ‘OK, we play Arsenal at home for a chance. It is six points. It is not a short distance, but we have a chance to do it.’

“That is the situation we are in. It depends on our behaviour, and everything will be said on Sunday. Our fans have sold out. Everything is perfect to play a game.”

Guardiola said Nico O’Reilly, who scored twice in City’s 2-0 League Cup final win over Arsenal, is fit after he left last weekend’s game at Chelsea clutching his left hamstring.

Solid Man City form sows unease among Arsenal fans

That thrilling victory was part of a solid City run of form, including a 4-0 throttling of Liverpool in the FA Cup ⁠quarterfinals. They have not lost a league game since mid-January.

City’s results have begun to sow unease among Arsenal ⁠fans.

“If we play like the second half (of the League Cup final) during 95 minutes and they play like the second half, we are going to win. Well, maybe not, because football is unpredictable,” Guardiola said.

“I know (Arsenal manager) Mikel (Arteta). They are going to adjust something, and we have to prepare to do it. In the end, it is more simple. It ⁠is how your players individually win the me-against-you.”

Guardiola insisted City must still raise their level if they are to sustain a title push through the final weeks.

“We need to get even better,” he said. “The first half against ⁠Chelsea (a 3-0 win on Sunday) was not bad but not great. The first 30 minutes ⁠against Liverpool was not good either. The first 30 minutes against Arsenal in the final, they were better.

“You cannot pretend that these kind of teams will be 90 or 95 minutes perfect, but this one aspect is not about the future, present or past, it’s about confidence, which is an incredible aspect.”

Asked if City are underdogs, Guardiola played down the label. “I understand ‌your message, but maybe we’re not,” he said. “They have been the best so far, but we want to challenge them.

“I said today to the players, it is just a football game, and we have to approach it like a football game. If you get distracted by emotions, that is ‌how ‌you lose focus.”

Guardiola said City remain proud to still be challenging on multiple fronts, even if Sunday’s result could prove decisive.

“We will see what happens,” he said. “But it is never over until it’s over, and we are still here. I am proud to be there, still challenging them.”

Hungary’s newly elected leader, Peter Magyar, stormed to power last weekend after campaigning to, among other things, take a step back from Russia.

Instead, Magyar has promised voters he will steer Hungary back towards the European Union, following the 16-year rule of far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who went to great lengths to deepen ties with Russia.

Under Orban, Hungary opposed most of the European Union’s stances against Russia and  blocked sanctions and obstructed military aid for Ukraine.

Above all, he and his Fidesz party entrenched Hungary’s reliance on Russian oil.

Now, following a massive electoral turnout and a landslide victory, Magyar – once a devotee of Orban and now leader of the centre-right Tisza party – has promised to end Russian oil imports by 2035. But how realistic a goal is that? And can he achieve it?

How much does Hungary depend on Russia for energy?

Hungary has been central to keeping Russian oil and gas flowing into the EU, even as Europe and the US banned some imports and imposed sanctions on anyone paying more than $60 a barrel for Russian oil.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the EU banned seaborne imports of Russian oil but kept land flows legal. That allowed Hungary to continue importing most of its crude by pipeline via Ukraine.

The EU first announced plans to phase out Russian energy imports in May 2022, shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In December 2025, a binding agreement was made for member nations to completely phase out Russian oil and gas imports by late 2027. But, instead of diversifying from Moscow, Hungary increased its dependency.

According to a 2026 report by the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD), Hungary had expanded its reliance on Russian crude from 61 percent in 2021 to 93 percent by 2025.

Much of the crude oil Hungary imports from Russia comes via the Druzhba pipeline. It is one of the key pipelines that ensures the continued flow of Russian crude to both Hungary and Slovakia. At 5,500 km (3,420 miles) long, it begins in Almetyevsk in western Russia and runs into Belarus. It splits at Mozyr, with one branch going to Poland and Germany and the southern branch goes through Ukraine into Slovakia, Hungary and Czechia.

In January, the section of the pipeline running through Ukraine suffered significant damage. Ukraine blamed a Russian airstrike – Moscow denies that.

Hungary and Slovakia have complained that Ukraine has been deliberately slow to repair the damage. As a result, in March, Orban vetoed a 90 billion euro ($106bn) loan from the EU to Ukraine until the pipeline reopens.

On Tuesday this week, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said oil will flow again through the conduit by the end of April as he expects the new Hungarian leadership to lift its veto on the loan by then.

As for gas, Hungary remains one of the most dependent EU member states on Russian natural gas, accounting for roughly three-quarters of its annual imports, the CSD report shows.

Since the start of Russia’s invasion, Hungary has imported an estimated 15.6 billion euros ($18.4bn) worth of Russian gas. Long-term contracts with Russia’s state-owned Gazprom, the continued reliance on TurkStream – a natural gas pipeline running from Russia to Turkiye – and “the weak use of alternative interconnectors have locked the country into Russia’s reconfigured gas export system”, the CSD report states.

Nuclear energy dependency is yet another issue. Hungary granted Rosatom, the Russian state nuclear energy corporation, the construction contract for the expansion of its Paks atomic plant, 100km (62 miles) southwest of Budapest on the Danube River. Russia, in turn, provided Hungary with a state loan to finance most of the development of new reactors. The European Commission approved the plan in 2017 and construction started in February.

Now, Magyar says he intends to reassess the project’s financing. But the Paks plant provides 40 to 50 percent of all electricity generated in Hungary. The expansion plans will increase that to between 60 and 70 percent, which would cut reliance on imported energy, but keep Hungary tied to Russia. 

According to a 2025 joint research paper by the Center for the Study of Democracy and the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air, Hungary could potentially diversify its energy supply by importing non-Russian oil via alternative sources such as the Adria pipeline. It transports crude from the Adriatic Sea to refineries in Croatia, Serbia, Hungary and Slovakia. Their refiners, which are controlled by Hungarian oil and gas company MOL, are capable of processing non-Russian crude, the research paper said.

Russian oil has been coming in at a discounted rate as a result of Western sanctions, so any diversification will likely be more expensive.

Can Hungary wean itself off its dependence on Russian oil?

It won’t be easy, and Magyar knows it. “The geographical position of neither Russia nor Hungary will change. Our energy exposure will also be here for a while,” he said before last weekend’s election. And in an interview with the Financial Times, Magyar insisted that Russian imports should remain an option. “This does not mean that by ending dependence on someone you no longer continue to buy from them,” he said.

Magyar will seek to strike a balance between respecting current contracts with Moscow to ensure Hungary’s energy security, while establishing political distance, said Pawel Zerka, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

“I would expect this government not to be pro-Russia in the sense of going to Moscow and keeping ties with the Russian government, but they don’t have easy options to replace Russian fuel with something else, especially considering the international situation with the Middle East,” Zerka said, referring to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf which has blocked the shipping of 20 percent of the world’s oil and LNG supplies.

Zerka added that the newly elected leader will not have political room to be particularly cordial with Russian President Vladimir Putin, considering the disapproval of Russia by his electoral base. A recent poll by the European Council on Foreign Relations shows that a majority of Tisza’s voters see Russia as an adversary or rival to compete with.

“It will be interesting to see how he combines this with energy needs,” Zerka said.

How does the EU view Hungary’s energy ties to Russia?

The strong energy ties between Russia and Hungary have long caused friction with the EU. Following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the European bloc has worked to cut imports of Russian oil and gas. Budapest has done the opposite.

In January, the EU passed legislation to completely phase out Russian gas and LNG imports by late 2027.

Orban’s government had called for all restrictions on Russian oil to be lifted as a result of the global energy crisis triggered by the war in the Middle East. While Trump has made some concessions on Russian oil already loaded on tankers at sea – causing several heading for China to head to India instead – EU leaders have maintained they will hold firm on sanctions.

In the lead-up to last weekend’s election, Magyar’s manifesto called the dependence on Russian energy a “systemic risk” and he would wean Hungary off its reliance by 2035. But whether he can do that in time to beat the EU’s 2027 deadline is likely to provoke discussion in Brussels.

easyJet issued an ‘important update’ earlier this month

easyJet has issued an alert to passengers travelling to more than 100 destinations with the airline after a major rule change that has come in post-Brexit.

In an “important update” issued earlier this month, easyJet warned queue times may be affected and said: “Airports across Europe may experience longer queues at passport control whilst the new European Entry/Exit System (EES) border checks are being completed. This will mean you may need to have your biometrics taken including your face and fingerprints scanned.”

Passengers are advised to plan travel to and through the airport, factoring in that they may have to queue for longer than previously. Anyone who needs to use Bag Drop should do so as soon as it opens, and travellers should make sure they have all necessary documents to hand.

easyJet is also urging people to go through security as early as possible and to head to the gate or boarding area as soon as it is announced. The travel operator further said there may be additional checks at passport control before your gate and added: “You may experience longer queues in your arrival airport”.

Full list of easyJet destinations under the new EES

• Ajaccio, Corsica (AJA) – France
• Akureyri (AEY) – Iceland
• Alicante (ALC) – Spain
• Almeria (LEI) – Spain
• Amsterdam (AMS) – Netherlands
• Athens (ATH) – Greece
• Barcelona (BCN) – Spain
• Bari (BRI) – Italy
• Basel (BSL) – Switzerland
• Bastia, Corsica (BIA) – France
• Berlin Brandenburg (BER) – Germany
• Biarritz (BIQ) – France
• Bilbao (BIO) – Spain
• Bordeaux (BOD) – France
• Brest Brittany (BES) – France
• Brindisi (BDS) – Italy
• Brussels Intl (BRU) – Belgium
• Budapest (BUD) – Hungary
• Burgas (BOJ) – Bulgaria
• Calvi, Corsica (CLY) – France
• Copenhagen (CPH) – Denmark
• Corfu (CFU) – Greece
• Costiera Amalfitana Salerno, Naples (QSR) – Italy
• Crete Chania (CHQ) – Greece
• Crete Heraklion (HER) – Greece
• Dubrovnik (DBV) – Croatia
• Dusseldorf (DUS) – Germany
• Evenes-Lofoten (EVE) – Norway
• Faro (FAO) – Portugal
• Figari, Corsica (FSC) – France
• Frankfurt International (FRA) – Germany
• Friedrichshafen (FDH) – Germany
• Fuerteventura (FUE) – Spain
• Geneva (GVA) – Switzerland
• Gibraltar (GIB) – Gibraltar
• Gran Canaria (LPA) – Spain
• Grenoble (GNB) – France
• Hamburg (HAM) – Germany
• Ibiza (IBZ) – Spain
• Innsbruck (INN) – Austria
• Kalamata (KLX) – Greece
• Kefalonia (EFL) – Greece
• Kittila (KTT) – Finland
• Kos (KGS) – Greece
• Krakow (KRK) – Poland
• La Coruña (LCG) – Spain
• La Rochelle (LRH) – France
• Lamezia (SUF) – Italy
• Lanzarote (ACE) – Spain
• Lille (LIL) – France
• Lisbon (LIS) – Portugal
• Ljubljana (LJU) – Slovenia
• Luxembourg (LUX) – Luxembourg
• Lyon (LYS) – France
• Madeira Funchal (FNC) – Portugal
• Madrid (MAD) – Spain
• Majorca Palma (PMI) – Spain
• Malaga (AGP) – Spain
• Malta (MLA) – Malta
• Marseille Provence (MRS) – France
• Menorca Mahon (MAH) – Spain
• Milan Linate (LIN) – Italy
• Milan Malpensa (MXP) – Italy
• Montpellier (MPL) – France
• Munich (MUC) – Germany
• Murcia Intl (RMU) – Spain
• Mykonos (JMK) – Greece
• Nantes (NTE) – France
• Naples (NAP) – Italy
• Nice (NCE) – France
• Oslo (OSL) – Norway
• Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) – France
• Paris Orly (ORY) – France
• Pisa (Tuscany) (PSA) – Italy
• Porto (OPO) – Portugal
• Porto Santo (PXO) – Portugal
• Prague (PRG) – Czech Republic
• Preveza (PVK) – Greece
• Pula (PUY) – Croatia
• Rennes (RNS) – France
• Reus (REU) – Spain
• Reykjavik Keflavik (KEF) – Iceland
• Rhodes (RHO) – Greece
• Rimini (RMI) – Italy
• Rome Fiumicino (FCO) – Italy
• Rovaniemi (RVN) – Finland
• Salzburg (SZG) – Austria
• Santa Cruz de la Palma (SPC) – Spain
• Santiago de Compostela (SCQ) – Spain
• Santorini (JTR) – Greece
• Sardinia Cagliari (CAG) – Italy
• Sardinia Olbia (OLB) – Italy
• Scandinavian Mountains (SCR) – Sweden
• Seville (SVQ) – Spain
• Sicily Catania (CTA) – Italy
• Sicily Lampedusa (LMP) – Italy
• Sicily Palermo (PMO) – Italy
• Skiathos (JSI) – Greece
• Sofia (SOF) – Bulgaria
• Split (SPU) – Croatia
• Strasbourg (SXB) – France
• Tenerife South (TFS) – Spain
• Thessaloniki (SKG) – Greece
• Toulouse (TLS) – France
• Tromsø (TOS) – Norway
• Turin (TRN) – Italy
• Valencia (VLC) – Spain
• Venice Marco Polo (VCE) – Italy
• Verona (VRN) – Italy
• Vienna (VIE) – Austria
• Zadar (ZAD) – Croatia
• Zante Zakynthos (ZTH) – Greece
• Zurich (ZRH) – Switzerland

The EES applies to 29 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. The above list of airports are the Schengen area destinations you can fly to with easyJet from the UK, as of the airline’s website at the time of publication.

OFFICIALS have warned that there is just weeks of jet fuel supplies left before airlines start running out.

Earlier this week, the head of the International Energy Agency warned that vital supplies remain blocked by conflict in Iran – as a result, many airlines have already started axing routes.

The blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is holding up major supply chains which has led to a huge hike in fuel costs – and shortages.

ACI Europe, which represents European airports, said the key trade route must open within three weeks or fuel reserves will run drastically low.

In response, a number of major airlines have been cancelling flights in preparation for shortages – with thousands affected.

Here are the major eight airlines that have already cut back on their routes…

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United Airlines

United Airlines said that five per cent of flights would be cancelled in the second and third quarters of 2026.

With up to 5,000 flights a month – working out to around 4,000 domestic and 800 international routes – this means it affects around 250 flights a month.

United Airlines has the world’s largest airline fleet with more than 1,075 aircraft.

Scandinavian Airlines

SAS was the first major airline in Europe to axe flights because of of the cost of fuel going up.

It said in mid-March that it would cancel 1,000 flights throughout April.

Lufthansa

Lufthansa‘s subsidiary airline CityLine is to cease operations due to both the Iran crisis and ongoing strike action.

The division ran business flights between European airports but will ground its entire fleet of 27 aircraft. 

Flight routes typically connected London to Frankfurt and Munich.

It will also cut six planes from its international fleet after the summer holiday season, warning that the cutbacks could last into winter.

KLM

Dutch airline KLM has cancelled 160 flights for the coming month, but has said it will affect less than 1 per cent of its schedule

The airline insists there is no shortage of jet fuel, saying the move is purely down to spiralling costs.

A KLM spokesperson said: “Passengers affected by these changes will be rebooked onto the next available flight.

“KLM expects a busy May holiday period and is making sure passengers can travel to their holiday destinations as planned.”

Cathay Pacific

Cathay Pacific has confirmed that two per cent of passenger flights will be cancelled from May 16 to June 30.

This will affect a number of regional routes, as well as longer-haul connections to destinations across Australia and South Asia.

Its budget airline HK Express is set to cut six per cent of flights due to increased costs.

Air New Zealand

Air New Zealand announced in March that it will be cutting back on flights over the next two months.

Chief Executive of Air New Zealand Nikhil Ravishankar said the airline would see roughly a five per cent reduction in its services which would continue until the beginning of May 2026.

This reduction equates to around 1,100 flights which in turn will affect 44,000 passengers out of its 1.9million.

Norse

Norse Atlantic Airways has removed all flights to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) from its summer schedule.

A spokesperson said: “Due to the continued increase in fuel constraint risks, fuel prices, and the resulting impact on our operating costs, we have had to make the difficult decision to suspend our LAX operations this summer, May to October.”

Norse operated a summer route from London Gatwick to LA.

British Airways

British Airways will drop its service from London Heathrow to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia permanently from April 24, 2026.

The airline had been operating a four flights a week service since November 2024.

BA said the terminating of the service was due to a shift in demand rather than fuel costs as hasn’t axed any flights because of that so far.

Virgin Airways

Virgin Atlantic announced earlier this month that it would be permanently scrapping its London flight to Riyadh from April 7, 2026.

It said some of the reasons were the “evolving situation in the Middle East” and “operating costs.”

Here’s why you should book your summer holiday now – easyJet boss says.

And here are the European holiday destinations Brits are flocking to instead of Turkey and Egypt due to Iran crisis.

Who: Chelsea vs Manchester United
What: English Premier League (EPL)
Where: Stamford Bridge, London, United Kingdom
When: Saturday, April 18 at 8pm (19:00 GMT)
How to follow: We’ll have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 16:00 GMT in advance of our live text commentary stream.

Chelsea can tighten up the Premier League battle for UEFA Champions League qualification when they host third-placed Manchester United on Saturday, but they will have to reverse a dreadful run of form to do so.

The Blues have only won one of their last five Premier League matches, increasing the pressure on manager Liam Rosenior in his first season in charge of the football club.

United suffered a shock home defeat by Leeds United last week and arrive with injuries and suspensions that will leave them feeling vulnerable for the first time under interim head coach Michael Carrick.

Al Jazeera Sport takes a look at a game that could ignite a late-season scrap for the top five finishing spots, which offer the route to Europe’s top table next season.

How does the Premier League race to the Champions League stand?

Third-placed United will arrive at Stamford Bridge with sixth-placed Chelsea seven points behind them.

Fifth-placed Liverpool are four points in front of the Blues, while Aston Villa are fourth, level on points with United but seven down on the Red Devils on goal difference.

With Villa and Liverpool not playing until Sunday – Sunderland at home and Everton away, respectively – a Chelsea win would close the gap between third and sixth to just four points for Saturday at least.

Four clubs, including Sunderland and Everton, sit just two points behind Chelsea. A certain run of results across the weekend means just six points could separate third from tenth by the close of this round of matches.

If fans of a close race were to be particularly greedy, wins for Bournemouth and Fulham – 11th and 12th, respectively – as well this weekend could mean the gap from third to 12th would only be eight points with five games to play.

As the former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson once said: “It is squeaky bum time”.

Clock ticking on Champions League qualification, admits Chelsea manager

Rosenior has warned Chelsea that their bid to qualify for the Champions League is hanging in the balance.

The Blues are on a dismal run of one win from their last seven Premier League games, placing their hopes of reaching Europe’s elite club competition in jeopardy.

It is more than six weeks since Chelsea last scored a goal in the league, but Rosenior knows there is no time left to feel sorry for themselves after last weekend’s 3-0 home defeat against Manchester City.

“As the season goes on, the less games you have left, the more important the games become,” Rosenior told reporters ahead of the game.

“We have to take advantage of this moment. We’re running out of time.

“We need to show that initiative on Saturday and play on the front foot and make up those points, which is still definitely possible.

“If I look at each game, I think it’s just come down to loss of concentration of focus in a moment that then has snowballed into the rest of the performances.

“What we have to do is manage the margins of the game a little bit better.”

Chelsea braced for fan protest ahead of Man Utd visit

A protest by Chelsea supporters is planned ahead of the United game, reflecting the growing discontent since owners BlueCo took over from Roman Abramovich almost four years ago.

Unless results improve drastically in the next few weeks, this season will be the first under the club’s American owners that the team’s league position has dropped.

Rosenior’s position is also likely to come under scrutiny after a disappointing start to his reign, which started in January when he arrived from Strasbourg to replace Enzo Maresca.

Maresca departed by mutual consent after hinting he did not receive sufficient support from the owners.

Strasbourg are owned by BlueCo, which led some fans to criticise Rosenior’s appointment and claim he would be a puppet for the board, in contrast to the volatile Maresca.

“Every supporter has their viewpoint,” Rosenior said. “Every supporter wants their club to do well and to win games. Our job, my job, is to produce those results in the long term.”

What happened the last time Chelsea played Man Utd?

The reverse fixture at Old Trafford earlier this season resulted in a 2-1 win for the Red Devils at Old Trafford.

Following the sending off of Chelsea keeper Robert Sanchez in the fifth minute, Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro gave the home side a two-goal advantage at the break.

The latter, however, saw red in the last minute of the first half, but Trevor Chalobah’s 80th-minute strike was in vain as United held on for the win.

Head-to-head

This will be the 199th meeting between the clubs, with United winning 81 of the matches and Chelsea emerging victorious on 56 occasions.

Stat attack – Manchester United

United playmaker Bruno Fernandes is just three assists away from equalling the all-time record of 20 in a single Premier League season.

Chelsea team news

Chelsea manager Rosenior says midfielder Enzo ‌Fernandez has returned to full training and is available for ⁠selection for the visit of Manchester United after being dropped for disciplinary reasons.

The 25-year-old Argentina ⁠World Cup winner was omitted from the squad for the 7-0 win over League One Port Vale in the FA Cup quarterfinals and ⁠last week’s 3-0 Premier League defeat by second-placed Manchester City at Stamford Bridge.

Fernandez, who had been wearing the captain’s armband in the absence of the injured Reece James, had previously said he would assess his future after the World Cup ‌and expressed a desire to live in Madrid, comments for which he later apologised.

“Enzo has been with the group and has been training very, very well,” Rosenior told reporters on Thursday. “So, it’s business as usual in terms of selection for the game.

“In terms of his training, his application to training, Enzo has been fantastic as well.”

Rosenior also provided updates ⁠on defender Trevoh Chalobah, who has not played since ⁠the second leg of Chelsea’s Champions League defeat by Paris Saint-Germain, and on James, who has been sidelined since the loss to Newcastle United also in March.

“Trevoh trained today but ⁠not quite fully; it was a modified training,” Rosenior said. “We’ll make a decision on him, but he’s very, ⁠very close. Reece is a little bit further ⁠away.”

Predicted Chelsea starting lineup

Sanchez; Gusto, Fofana, Hato, Cucurella; Caicedo, Santos; Palmer, Fernandez, Neto; Pedro

Manchester United team news

United’s first-choice centre-backs Lisandro Martinez and Harry Maguire are both suspended for the match.

Maguire was set to return from a one-game ban, but has had his suspension extended by an additional game for improper conduct following his sending off against Bournemouth last month.

Fellow centre-back Matthijs de Ligt is still sidelines by a back injury, while Kobbie Mainoo missed the defeat by Leeds with a knock and remains a doubt.

Predicted Manchester United starting lineup

Lammens; Dalot, Yoro, Heaven, Shaw; Casemiro, Mainoo; Diallo, Fernandes, Cunha; Mbeumo

Mahmoud Khader Abed Adra, sought for over four decades, was surrendered by Palestinian authorities

A man suspected of organising a deadly attack on a Jewish restaurant in Paris has been arrested and placed in custody in France after being handed over by Palestinian authorities.

Mahmoud Khader Abed Adra, also known as Hicham Harb, arrived in France on Thursday after Palestinian officials surrendered him to French authorities, a handover that French President Emmanuel Macron linked directly to France’s recent recognition of Palestinian statehood.

On August 9, 1982, three to five men threw a grenade into Jo Goldenberg, a Jewish-owned restaurant in the Rue des Rosiers, in Paris’s historic Marais district, before opening fire on the street outside.

Six people were killed and 22 wounded in the incident.

The attack was blamed on the Fatah-Revolutionary Council, a Palestinian armed faction that had split from the mainstream Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

Adra was arrested in the West Bank by Palestinian security forces in September last year.

French antiterrorism prosecutors filed an extradition request days later, and he was flown to the Villacoublay military airbase outside Paris on Thursday, where he was taken into custody.

His lawyer described the extradition as “a serious violation of Palestinian fundamental law”.

“Forty-four years is too long,” said David Pere, a lawyer representing several families.

Two other suspects are already in French custody, and in February, France’s highest court confirmed that a trial will proceed, a ruling that had been challenged by the defendants.

Macron praised the Palestinian Authority’s cooperation, saying it reflected a commitment by President Mahmoud Abbas to work with France on counterterrorism.

Abbas had told French newspaper Le Figaro late last year that France’s recognition of Palestinian statehood in September 2025 had “created an appropriate framework” for the extradition request.

Why is a Europa League place given up? This is all about applying the EPS after all other factors.

So in this example, Aston Villa have earned a place in the Champions League but finished in a league position that qualifies them for the Europa League.

Uefa rules state that the berth in the lower competition has to be forfeited and passed to another league.

For instance, La Liga had no team in the first edition of the Conference League because Villarreal won a European competition and finished in seventh.

Let’s say Villa finish fifth. The Premier League gives up the Europa League place.

Then you apply the EPS, which goes to sixth – the first team not in the Champions League.

The Conference League place drops to seventh.

If Villa finish sixth, then it is the Conference League place which is given up. After the EPS, eighth plays in the Europa League.

But could Villa winning the Europa League give England a ninth European spot? Only if they finish outside the domestic European places.

Right now that would be outside the top six – or the top seven if, say, Manchester City win the FA Cup.

As Villa are eight points ahead of seventh-placed Brentford, there is only a slim possibility this could happen.

For Forest, it’s a very simple situation as they sit 16th in the Premier League on 33 points.

Forest are out of the FA Cup, so they cannot qualify for Europe domestically.

If Vitor Pereira leads Forest past Villa and on to Europa League glory there will be a sixth English team in the Champions League, and at least nine in Europe.

This would mirror what happened with Tottenham Hotspur last season.