Michael Ojuroye Initiative (Ngo)

BRAZIL VS CAMEROON Stuttering Brazil will look to clinch their berth in the last 16 of the World Cup as they host already-eliminated Cameroon in their final Group A match at the National Stadium in the capital Brasilia on Monday. Luiz Felipe Scolari’s side have beaten Croatia and drawn with Mexico in their two games to date, struggling to convince in either match, but both the coach and his players have claimed in recent days that the World Cup hosts are “evolving” as the tournament goes along. Brazil head into their final group game — their 100th at the World Cup — still not certain of a place in the knockout rounds, but goalkeeper Julio Cesar insisted during the week that the quality of opposition they have come up against so far has helped the Selecao. “This is a tough group, but that’s great for us. We prefer to play against these sides and face these difficulties because it gets you focusing right from the start, which is important in short-term competitions,” he said. T...

A senior Afghan election official at the centre of fraud claims in the presidential run-off vote has resigned. Zia ul-Haq Amarkhail said he was stepping down “for the sake of national unity”, denying allegations of ballot box-stuffing earlier this month. His resignation comes after audio tapes were released allegedly revealing that Amarkhail was trying to influence the outcome of the vote. They were published by the camp of one of the candidates – Abdullah Abdullah. However, his rival Ashraf Ghani has also made allegations of fraud. The official results of the June 14 run-off are yet to be published. In a dramatic turn of events on Monday, Amarkhail tendered his resignation on national television. He vehemently denied any wrongdoing, saying he had been the victim of a “plot”. He also described the tapes as “fake” and blamed the country’s security services for interfering in the election. In an apparent reference to ballot box stuffing, the tapes appear to show Amarkhail urging a co...

The EU says it is ready to impose new sanctions on Russia if Moscow does not act quickly to stop arms and militants flowing into eastern Ukraine. UK Foreign Secretary William Hague warned Russia that if it failed to act the EU “will be able to take further measures, further sanctions”. He said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s support for Ukraine’s peace plan must be “translated into action”. Ukraine says armed pro-Russia militants are ignoring Kiev’s unilateral truce. On Friday Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced a 15-point peace plan and declared a unilateral week-long truce. President Putin welcomed the move, but said Kiev must negotiate and make compromises with the pro-Russian rebels, who remain in control of key state buildings in eastern Ukraine. EU foreign ministers are discussing the Ukraine crisis in Luxembourg with the new Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Pavlo Klimkin. The crisis will also be high on the agenda of an EU summit in Brussels on Friday, where EU le...