Headline

Emotional Liverpool Striker, Luis Diaz Reunites With Dad After 12-day Kidnapping Ordeal

Published

3 years ago

November 14, 2023

Liverpool striker Luis Diaz had a tearful reunion Tuesday with his father, freed last week after a 12-day kidnapping ordeal at the hands of Colombia’s ELN guerrilla group.

Diaz was back home in Colombia to join the national team ahead of a World Cup qualifying match against Brazil Thursday in the seaport city of Barranquilla, where the meeting with his dad, Luis Manuel Diaz, was arranged.

The pair embraced in tears, according to images distributed by the Colombian Football Federation (FCF).

Luis Manuel Diaz, 56, wore a black T-shirt with the words: “No more kidnapping.”

“After 12 days deprived of freedom, this is the first contact of the player with his father and the rest of the family, who lived long moments of anguish,” the FCF said on its website with a photo of the two men and the footballer’s young daughter on her grandfather’s knee.

Luis Manuel Diaz and his wife Cilenis Marulanda were abducted by armed men on motorcycles at a gas station in their home town of Barrancas near the Venezuelan border on October 28.

Marulanda was rescued hours later and a massive search operation by ground and air was launched for her husband.

The ELN, which is in peace negotiations with the government and is party to a six-month ceasefire that entered into force in August, described the kidnapping by one of its units as a “mistake.”

Last Thursday, after days of intense negotiations, the rebels handed Diaz over to humanitarian workers in a mountainous border area.

The following day, he told reporters at his home in Barrancas how he was made to walk “too much,” with very little sleep, at the hands of his kidnappers.

On Saturday, police said they had arrested four suspects in the crime.

Luis Manuel Diaz is the founder and amateur coach of the only football academy in Barrancas, where his son showed promise from a very young age.

Diaz Sr is credited with aiding the meteoric rise of his son, who has played for his country 43 times and is the first Indigenous Colombian to make it to world football’s top echelons.

Acquaintances have told AFP he sometimes sold food he cooked himself to pay for his son’s trips to Barranquilla, where he had his debut.

The young winger known as “Lucho” later played for Porto, and now plays for Liverpool.

Headline

Indian Court Denies Bail To Nigerian Man Over Drug Charges

Published

28 minutes ago

May 28, 2026

Editor

A court in India has denied bail to a 44-year-old Nigerian national, Cristian Soporuchukwu, who is currently facing drug trafficking charges in the country.

Cristian Soporuchukwu initially entered India on a business visa but was later arrested over allegations of involvement in the sale of hard drugs.

Reports indicated that after arriving in India, Soporuchukwu travelled through Goa, Delhi, and Mumbai, where he allegedly established links with suspected drug traffickers.

He was accused of purchasing MDMA crystals and distributing them to college students and information technology workers.

According to reports, operatives of the Beguru Police arrested Cristian Soporuchukwu in April 2025 for allegedly selling MDMA crystals around Begur Lake and the AECS Layout Road area.

The New Indian Express reported that the High Court of Karnataka subsequently dismissed the Nigerian’s bail application.

“The anti-narcotics wing seized about 1 kg of MDMA crystals, a pocket weighing machine, 10 zip-lock covers, a mobile phone and a scooter from him,” the report stated.

Justice V. Srishananda, while ruling on the bail application, reportedly held that errors relating to the grounds of arrest could not automatically justify bail in serious narcotics-related offences under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, NDPS, Act.

The court further noted that Cristian Soporuchukwu had allegedly overstayed his visa in India, according to the report.

Headline

Strait Of Hormuz: US Announces Sanctions Against Iran

Published

57 minutes ago

May 28, 2026

Editor

The United States Treasury has announced sanctions against Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority.

Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, said this in a statement on Wednesday.

The statement extended the threat of sanctions to anyone paying the fees, saying they may be providing support to and receiving services from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, and therefore may be exposed to sanctions risk.

“The Iranian military’s latest attempt to extort global maritime trade is proof that Economic Fury has left the regime desperate for cash.

“Treasury has deprived the Iranian regime of revenue for their weapons programs, terrorist proxies, and nuclear ambitions,” Bessent said.

Bessent added that the US has succeeded in disrupting tens of billions of dollars’ worth of revenue from being accessible to Tehran.

Headline

US Launches New Airstrikes On Iran

Published

1 hour ago

May 28, 2026

Editor

The United States has launched new airstrikes in southern Iran.

The strike shot down four one-way attack drones that posed a threat around the Strait of Hormuz and then a ground control site.

A US official revealed that American forces struck an Iranian ground control station in Bandar Abbas that was about to launch a fifth drone.

The official described the strikes as purely defensive, saying the US intended to maintain the ceasefire.

Report says this is the second time in three days that the US has carried out self-defense strikes against Iranian military targets in southern Iran.

Recall that on Monday the US carried out airstrikes against Iranian missile locations and boats that US Central Command said were preparing to launch mines in the Strait of Hormuz.