General news

• Ivory Coast's former first lady Simone Gbagbo acquitted of war crimes

  28-03-2017 23:32 via theguardian.com
  
  Gbagbo also cleared of crimes against humanity for role in 2011 civil warTrial held in Abidjan after refusal to send her to ICC in The HagueA court in Ivory Coast has acquitted the former first lady Simone Gbagbo of crimes against humanity and war crimes charges linked to her role in a 2011 civil war that killed about 3,000 people, state television announced on Tuesday. Judge Kouadio Bouatchi said a jury unanimously voted to free Gbagbo. The prosecution had asked for a life sentence, saying she
  
  Read more

• PM May signs Brexit letter to EU - photograph

  28-03-2017 23:27
  LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May signed a letter on Tuesday to European Council President Donald Tusk notifying the European Union of Britain's intention to leave the bloc, a photograph seen by Reuters showed. The letter is due to be delivered by hand to Tusk in Brussels on Wednesday by Tim Barrow, Britain's permanent representative to the EU. May will also notify parliament about the letter. (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Dylan Martinez; Editing by Louise Ireland)
  
  Read more

• François Fillon's wife officially charged over embezzlement of public funds

  28-03-2017 23:11 via theguardian.com
  
  Inquiry into wife of French presidential candidate comes after hours of questioning over work Penelope Fillon did for her husbandThe British-born wife of French presidential candidate François Fillon has been formally put under investigation in the fake jobs scandal that has poisoned her husband’s political career.Penelope Fillon is being prosecuted for embezzlement, misappropriation of public funds and aggravated fraud, it was reported late on Tuesday evening. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• PM May to fire starting gun on Brexit

  28-03-2017 23:10
  
  By Guy Faulconbridge and Elizabeth PiperLONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May will file formal Brexit divorce papers on Wednesday, pitching the United Kingdom into the unknown and triggering years of uncertain negotiations that will test the endurance of the European Union.Nine months after Britons voted to leave, May will notify EU Council President Donald Tusk in a letter that the UK really is quitting the bloc it joined in 1973.The prime minister, an initial opponent of Brexit who won
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Queenslanders wake up to devastation following 'monster' storm Cyclone Debbie

  28-03-2017 23:06 via theguardian.com
  
  Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says there will be ‘shock and awe’ in the state when the full extent of the damage wrought by the cyclone is revealedQueenslanders woke up on Wednesday to a huge cleanup following the “monster” Cyclone Debbie, as the now ex-tropical cyclone brought yet more heavy rain as it worked its way through the state.At 3am on Wednesday morning the Bureau of Meteorology downgraded Debbie out of the cyclone category to a tropical low, bringing sustained
  
  Read more

• Sky Data Brexit poll: Half of Britons happy about talks starting

  28-03-2017 23:03
  Across the country, emotions ran high during the EU referendum campaign - but there is little sign of Bregret from voters as Theresa May prepares to pull the trigger on Brexit.A Sky Data poll found one in two people were happy or very happy about the triggering of Article 50, while only 36% said they felt sad about leaving the EU.Sky News travelled to the East of England to take the Brexit temperature in one of the most eurosceptic parts of the UK.
  
  Read more

• International roundup: France foiled by video assistant referee against Spain

  28-03-2017 23:03 via theguardian.com
  
  • Technology twice helps officials make correct calls in 2-0 win for visitors
  • Italy beat Holland 2-1 after farewell to Clarence SeedorfFrance twice fell foul of decisions made by a video assistant referee (VAR) in a high-profile example of the new technology during their 2-0 home defeat against Spain.Antoine Griezmann thought he had headed France into the lead three minutes after half-time but, after the referee Felix Zwayer consulted the extra official, the goal was quickly ruled ou
  
  Read more

• Theresa May to call on Britons to unite as she triggers article 50

  28-03-2017 23:01
  
  Theresa May signing the letter on Tuesday that will invoke article 50.Theresa May will call on the British people to unite as she triggers article 50, beginning a two-year process that will see the UK leave the European Union and sever a political relationship that has lasted 44 years.A letter signed by the prime minister will be hand-delivered to the president of the European council at about 12.30pm – as she rises in Westminster to deliver a statement to MPs signalling the end of the UK&
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Rio Ferdinand: Being Mum and Dad review – a moving account of loss

  28-03-2017 23:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The footballer invites the cameras in to witness him dealing with grief after the death of his wife. It is a bold and important filmIt’s usually so much fun snooping around a footballer’s house on television, seeing where all that money goes. Steven Gerrard’s and Wayne Rooney’s stand out from recent times. Rio Ferdinand’s looks like a good one, too – massive kitchen, gym, pool etc. But Rio hasn’t invited the cameras in to show off.While grand, the most s
  
  Read more

• Don Juan in Soho review – David Tennant dazzles as a desolate hedonist

  28-03-2017 23:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Wyndhams theatre, London
  Tennant brings a beguiling, fleet-footed charm to Molière’s libertine, reinvented as DJ in Patrick Marber’s subversive updateDavid Tennant stars as the rutting rake in Patrick Marber’s sprightly update of Molière’s comic morality play. Watching him, I was reminded of Christopher Hampton’s comment that the actor playing Molière’s Don Juan must seduce the audience. It is precisely because Tennant invests a heartless
  
  Read more

• Steve Bell on the Daily Mail – cartoon

  28-03-2017 22:32 via theguardian.com
  
  Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Dog owner killed by his pet Staffordshire Bull terrier

  28-03-2017 22:19
  A 41-year-old man has been attacked and killed by his pet dog, a Staffordshire Bull terrier.The dog, which is not one of the breeds banned under the Dangerous Dogs Act, mauled its owner to death at his home in Wood Green, north London.Metropolitan Police officers, along with London Ambulance Service paramedics were called to an address in Normans Close, N22, at around 10.25pm last Monday.
  
  Read more

• Britain's new £1 suffers teething problems; US stock market ends losing run - as it happened

  28-03-2017 22:10 via theguardian.com
  
  We’ve road-tested the new 12-sided coin, and found that some ticket and vending machines don’t actually accept itLatest: Dow Jones ends 8-day slideUS consumer confidence hits 16-year highBritain launches new 12-sided £1 coinBut it doesn’t work here....or here...City ponders Trump’s next move after healthcare setback
  Rand hit by speculation over finance minister’s future9.09pm BSTBreaking! The Dow Jones industrial average has ended its eight-day long run of los
  
  Read more

• Resignation claim is fake, says world chess chief once 'abducted by aliens'

  28-03-2017 21:58 via theguardian.com
  
  Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who is on US sanctions list, had threatened to resign from position held since 1995 ‘several times’ during recent meeting, an official saidThe international chess governing body has been plunged into controversy after announcing its longtime president, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, had resigned in a statement he dismissed as “fake”.Ilyumzhinov, a Russian businessman and former leader of Russia’s Buddhist Kalmykia region, is no stranger to controversy, perh
  
  Read more

• Westminster terrorist Khalid Masood wasn't an extremist, says ex boss

  28-03-2017 21:48 via theguardian.com
  
  Killer was open about violent past but showed no interest in local radical groups, says Luton language school directorWestminster terrorist Khalid Masood was an “apolitical” man who showed no interest in radical Islam in the two years he lived in Luton, his former boss said. Farasat Latif, a director at language school Elas UK where Masood worked between 2010 and summer 2012, said he knew Masood as a charming, friendly and professional employee who was open about getting his life bac
  
  Read more

• Westminster terrorist Khalid Masood wasn't an extremist, says ex boss

  28-03-2017 21:48
  
  Westminster terrorist Khalid Masood was an “apolitical” man who showed no interest in radical Islam in the two years he lived in Luton, his former boss said.Farasat Latif, a director at language school Elas UK where Masood worked between 2010 and summer 2012, said he knew Masood as a charming, friendly and professional employee who was open about getting his life back on track after a violent past.In the aftermath of last week’s attack, Theresa May told MPs the security service
  
  Read more

• Man charged with murder of six-week-old baby

  28-03-2017 21:20
  David Christie, 35, from Blackpool, had initially been charged with wounding.Ambulance staff alerted Lancashire Police after they were called to a house in Wyre Grove shortly after 4am on 10 March to treat the baby.The infant was taken by ambulance to Blackpool Victoria Hospital and then transferred to the Manchester Children's Hospital.
  
  Read more

• Trump moves to dismantle Obama's climate legacy with executive order

  28-03-2017 21:16 via theguardian.com
  
  Environmentalists decry ‘embarrassing’ order to review Obama’s clean power plan and other regulations, as White House claims victory for coal industryDonald Trump launched an all-out assault on Barack Obama’s climate change legacy on Tuesday with a sweeping executive order that undermines America’s commitment to the Paris agreement.Watched by coalminers at a ceremony at the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, the president signed an order to trigger a rev
  
  Read more

• Alien intelligence: the extraordinary minds of octopuses and other cephalopods

  28-03-2017 21:00 via theguardian.com
  
  After a startling encounter with a cuttlefish, Australian philosopher Peter Godfrey-Smith set out to explore the mysterious lives of cephalopods. He was left asking: why do such smart, optimistic creatures live such a short time?Inches above the seafloor of Sydney’s Cabbage Tree Bay, with the proximity made possible by several millimetres of neoprene and an oxygen tank, I’m just about eyeball to eyeball with this creature: an Australian giant cuttlefish.Even allowing for the magnifyi
  
  Read more

• UK nuclear plans could be hit by Westinghouse financial crisis

  28-03-2017 20:47 via theguardian.com
  
  Toshiba’s US subsidiary, which has technology in about half world’s reactors, expected to file for bankruptcy protectionA financial crisis at a major nuclear energy business is threatening to deal a blow to the UK’s atomic energy programme.Toshiba’s US nuclear subsidiary Westinghouse Electric is believed to be on the brink of filing in the US for bankruptcy protection from creditors. A UK expert said the collapse would leave a considerable hole in Britain’s new nucl
  
  Read more

• Home Office contractor 'restrains disabled Yarls Wood woman by chain'

  28-03-2017 20:36 via theguardian.com
  
  Wheelchair user Lovelyn Edobor says Capita firm escorts, acting to deport her, ‘dragged her like a goat’ at HeathrowA disabled victim of trafficking has complained that she was forced into a waist restraint belt and dragged along “like a goat” when the Home Office tried to remove her from the UK on Saturday.Lovelyn Edobor, from Nigeria, had been held at Yarls Wood immigration removal centre, Bedfordshire, for several months before the Home Office attempted to forcibly rem
  
  Read more

• Home Office contractor 'restrains disabled Yarls Wood woman by chain'

  28-03-2017 20:36
  
  The charity Medical Justice has raised concerns about restraint methods used on immigration detainees.A disabled victim of trafficking has complained that she was forced into a waist restraint belt and dragged along “like a goat” when the Home Office tried to remove her from the UK on Saturday.Lovelyn Edobor, from Nigeria, had been held at Yarls Wood immigration removal centre, Bedfordshire, for several months before the Home Office attempted to forcibly remove her from the UK.
  
  Read more

• France v Spain, Holland v Italy and more: international clockwatch – live

  28-03-2017 20:21 via theguardian.com
  
  • Updates from the latest round of internationals• Email [email protected] or tweet him @Simon_Burnton• Lionel Messi banned for four Argentina matches after insulting official 7.21pm BSTIreland’s team to play Iceland:BREAKING: Conor Hourihane & John Egan are set to make their international debuts as both men are named in the team to face Iceland! #COYBIG pic.twitter.com/OVzxdE2eWT 7.11pm BSTAnd France start with Kylian Mbappé! Their team in full: Llori
  
  Read more

• I was vulnerable and wanted a home. What I got was a workhouse | Daniel Lavelle

  28-03-2017 20:10 via theguardian.com
  
  A homeless charity offered me food and board. But I had to work a tough 40-hour week for a meagre allowance – and others like me are being treated the same wayThere are many reasons why I became homeless, but no one was surprised it happened. I’m just another care leaver who lost control of their life. Almost every person I lived with in children’s homes and foster placements has since experienced mental health problems, stints in prison, and battles with drug and alcohol
  
  Read more

• The Guardian view on Marine A: prevent war crimes, don’t excuse them | Editorial

  28-03-2017 20:07 via theguardian.com
  
  Alexander Blackman’s mental state contributed to him shooting dead an injured Taliban fighter – but we must still uphold international lawWhen justice is done, we should be glad. But the champagne-swigging jubilation that greeted the reduction of “Marine A” Alexander Blackman’s murder conviction to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, went far beyond the acknowledgment that this was an appropriate outcome. To many of his supporters he is a &ldqu
  
  Read more

• Key kit for a 21st century gold coin heist? Rope, ladder and wheelbarrow

  28-03-2017 20:05 via theguardian.com
  
  Thieves who stole world’s second-largest gold coin from Berlin museum appeared to stick to old-fashioned methods
  Even in the era of cybercrime, methods more familiar to black-and-white heist movies never fall out of fashion.On Monday morning, thieves in Berlin used a rope, a foldout ladder and a wheelbarrow to steal the world’s second-largest gold coin from a museum, all within earshot of Angela Merkel’s inner-city apartment. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• If only Nicola could let her legs do the talking

  28-03-2017 20:02 via theguardian.com
  
  The Scottish first minister has a mind of her own when it comes to Brexit but then so do her lower extremitiesA pair of legs stood up and the body attached to them prepared to speak. There were so many things Nicola Sturgeon’s shapely shanks would have liked to say. About how the Daily Mail had said how much more attractive they were than Theresa May’s famously long extremities. About how the prime minister had been so intimated – or was that seduced? – by her luscious le
  
  Read more

• Teenager killed himself in prison after getting deportation letter

  28-03-2017 19:54 via theguardian.com
  
  Ondrej Suha was found hanged in his cell after reading that he could be sent back to Slovakia, which he left at age of fourA 19-year-old killed himself at a youth prison after being told he could be deported to a country he had not lived in since he was four, a jury has found.Slovakian-born Ondrej Suha, who had just started a 14-month sentence for burglary and assault, had also witnessed his cellmate attempting to take his life a few days earlier. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Germany to investigate claims of ‘intolerable’ spying by Turkey

  28-03-2017 19:52 via theguardian.com
  
  The claims Erdoğan’s agents are spying on supporters of exiled preacher Fethullah Gülen open new front in the diplomatic row between the two countries
  German prosecutors have announced an investigation into claims that Turkish agents are spying on alleged followers of exiled preacher Fethullah Gülen in Germany.News of the inquiry came as a German state minister accused Turkey of “intolerable and unacceptable” espionage against supporters of Gülen, blamed by
  
  Read more

• Marine A could become terror target after release, police say

  28-03-2017 19:50
  
  The former Royal Marine Alexander Blackman is expected to be freed from prison in around two weeks after senior judges sentenced him to seven years for the manslaughter of an injured Taliban fighter in Afghanistan.After a long campaign that led to Blackman’s murder conviction being quashed and replaced with manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility, a new sentence was set by the court martial appeal court on Tuesday.It means the 42-year-old no longer faces life in jail but has be
  
  Read more

• Forging pound coins? That’s not a crime – it’s a job | Tim Dowling

  28-03-2017 19:50 via theguardian.com
  
  Britain’s new 12-sided coin is designed to put the forgers off but no one in their right mind would want to counterfeit them anywayWhen I was a child, I collected coins. I looked at coins, read about coins, grouped coins in albums and said obverse and reverse instead of front and back. It was my one true passion, and the last time I ever had a strong urge to organise stuff.What I’m saying is, there was a moment when I would have been very excited about the introduction of a new coin,
  
  Read more

• Tesco has settled with the SFO – but it faces more headaches ahead | Nils Pratley

  28-03-2017 19:48 via theguardian.com
  
  The supermarket giant can move on after the accounting scandal, although restless shareholders could spell troubleFor Tesco, a £235m bill to settle investigations by the Serious Fraud Office and Financial Conduct Authority counts as a tidy piece of business. The sum will wipe out almost 20% of operating profits last year, but the company’s negotiating power was approximately zero after it had confessed to a £326m overstatement of profits in 2014. Assuming the deferred prosecuti
  
  Read more

• Cricketer spared jail may face claims he perverted course of justice

  28-03-2017 19:42 via theguardian.com
  
  CPS considering review amid allegations Mustafa Bashir falsely claimed he was due Leicestershire club contractA violent and controlling cricketer who walked free from court after he beat his wife with a cricket bat and made her drink bleach, could face an investigation over claims that he perverted the course of justice.
  Mustafa Bashir, 34, was spared prison despite forcing his wife to drink bleach, throttling her in public, and hitting her with his bat. He admitted assault occasioning actual bo
  
  Read more

• Non-league player banned after allegedly wielding knife at fan

  28-03-2017 19:39 via theguardian.com
  
  • Police investigating incident while Sawbridgeworth Town ban offender for life
  • Fan of Clapton FC alleged to have spat at playerA non-league footballer is under investigation by Hertfordshire police after allegedly wielding a knife at an opposition fan, with the player given a life ban by his club, Sawbridgeworth Town.The incident occurred towards the end of an Essex Senior League fixture between Sawbridgeworth and Clapton at Crofters End ground in Hertfordshire on Saturday. Continue
  
  Read more

• Canadian MP responds to writer’s ‘odd’ story about trying to breastfeed his baby

  28-03-2017 19:37 via theguardian.com
  
  Leah McLaren revealed how she once tried to nurse Michael Chong’s son without permission in column that received sharp rebuke over ‘inappropriate’ behavior Related: Make Canada great again? Conservative Canucks chart course for the age of Trump In the race to become the next leader of Canada’s Conservatives, he’s promised lower income taxes and increased financing for small businesses while taking aim at the politics of fear.Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Scottish parliament votes for second independence referendum

  28-03-2017 19:34
  
  Nicola Sturgeon has won a key Holyrood vote on her plans for a second independence referendum, triggering accusations from UK ministers that her demands are premature.Sturgeon won by a 10-vote majority after the Scottish Greens backed her proposals to formally request from the UK government the powers to stage a fresh independence vote at around the time Britain leaves the EU, in spring 2019.
  
  Read more

• Scottish parliament backs bid for new independence referendum

  28-03-2017 19:27
  
  By Russell Cheyne and Estelle ShirbonEDINBURGH/LONDON (Reuters) - The Scottish parliament on Tuesday backed a bid to hold a new independence referendum in 2018 or 2019, but the British government immediately rejected the proposal.The stand-off further complicates the United Kingdom's political situation just as years of daunting negotiations on the terms of its exit from the European Union are about to begin.The Brexit issue has strained ties between the UK's four constituent parts because Engla
  
  Read more

• UK breaks solar energy record on sunny March weekend

  28-03-2017 19:26 via theguardian.com
  
  Amount of electricity demanded by homes and businesses one afternoon was lower than it was during night for first time everLast weekend’s sunny weather was not only good for beers, barbecues and bees, but also drove solar power to break a new UK record.For the first time ever, the amount of electricity demanded by homes and businesses in the afternoon on Saturday was lower than it was in the night, because solar panels on rooftops and in fields cut demand so much. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Bondage crocodiles and a buttock moon: the world's weirdest claymations

  28-03-2017 19:26 via theguardian.com
  
  Twisted fairytales, whip-cracking crocodiles, a corncob getting some bump’n’grind – Nathalie Djurberg is taking claymation where it’s never gone beforeWhen the crocodile wearing a bondage collar starts whipping the giant rat riding a motorbike made of wieners, you may find yourself thinking: “Wow, this really can’t get much odder.” But you will, of course, be wrong – even though the crocodile is already in bed with a latex-enrobed octopus and a fox
  
  Read more

• US-led coalition must do more to avoid civilian deaths in Mosul, says UN

  28-03-2017 19:23 via theguardian.com
  
  High commissioner tells Iraqi and US forces they must avoid targeting buildings where Isis has told residents to take shelterThe UN has urged Iraqi and US-led forces to do more to protect civilians in the war against Islamic State in Mosul and accused the terror group of herding trapped residents into buildings that are likely to be targeted by airstrikes.The intervention by the UN’s high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, comes after at least 150 people died in a
  
  Read more

• Scotland's MPs back independence referendum

  28-03-2017 19:22
  MSPs have backed Nicola Sturgeon's calls for a second independence referendum in Scotland.The Scottish Parliament voted 69 to 59 to mandate the First Minister to seek permission from the UK Government for a vote to be held between autumn next year and spring 2019.Ms Sturgeon's minority Government won the vote with help from the Scottish Greens.
  
  Read more

• The poorest will lose out from prescription cuts

  28-03-2017 19:13
  
  A doctor writing a prescription. ‘It is those who cannot otherwise afford these medicines who will go without,’ writes Aidan Shanks. Photograph: Anthony Devlin/PA
  
  Read more

• Our neighbour Les was salt of the earth | Letters

  28-03-2017 19:13
  
  Houses on residential streets in London. ‘The anonymity of big cities like London can be difficult for young and old alike,’ writes Mal Shepherd. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA
  
  Read more

• 'Old Flo' makes her way back to London from Yorkshire

  28-03-2017 19:13 via theguardian.com
  
  Henry Moore sculpture that graced Stepney in east London for 35 years before relocating to Wakefield has a new home in Canary WharfAn enormous Henry Moore bronze sculpture gifted at cost price to the east London borough of Tower Hamlets in 1962 is finally coming home – although not quite to a place its maker would have imagined.Draped Seated Woman, affectionately known as “Old Flo”, was for 35 years located on the Stifford estate in Stepney. It has spent the past 20 years on ru
  
  Read more

• Hope for those stuck in mental health institutions | Letters

  28-03-2017 19:13
  
  ‘Discharging people from hospitals into community care transforms lives,’ writes Dr Ashok Roy.Among other weighty events on Wednesday, there is a chink of light that could transform the lives of thousands of people with learning disabilities, needlessly stuck in mental health institutions away from homes, families and communities.On Wednesday, the public affairs committee will hear from Simon Stevens, head of NHS England, and others, on reducing the number of people with learning dis
  
  Read more

• The Guardian view on Brexit: start by protecting EU nationals | Editorial

  28-03-2017 19:03 via theguardian.com
  
  It is morally and politically repugnant to try to bargain over the future of people who have enriched our livesBritain is poised to embark on a fraught and uncertain course. Leaving the European Union will weaken the remaining 27 members, and it is likely to set this country on a decade or more of instability. It is the end of a partnership that has brought much more to Britain than can be guessed at from the churlish nature of our relationship, which rarely recognised the wonder of this audacio
  
  Read more

• Don’t Care Good Hair: more lo-fi than blow-dry

  28-03-2017 19:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Alexa Chung has worked it for years​, while Emma Stone and​ ​Strictly’s ​Claudia Winkleman ​have also adopted the new soft-power style that’s flat at the top, wavy through the middle and suggests you’re not trying too hardIf you hadn’t noticed that there is a new power hairstyle on the scene, don’t feel bad about it. You weren’t supposed to notice because the new look flies deliberately under-the-radar. The check-me-out blow-out i
  
  Read more

• Monkman vs Seagull: friendship is winner in University Challenge showdown

  28-03-2017 18:46 via theguardian.com
  
  Erik Monkman’s team beats Bobby Seagull’s in semi-final of TV quiz show, but Bobby is there to lend support in the finalIt was billed as a titanic final battle between two implacable enemies. After months of cerebral combat on BBC2’s University Challenge, two of the series’s breakout social media stars – the intensely focused Canadian Eric Monkman, of Wolfson College, Cambridge, and the expressive east Londoner Bobby Seagull, of Emmanuel College, Cambridge – w
  
  Read more

• Monkman v Seagull: friendship is winner in University Challenge showdown

  28-03-2017 18:46 via theguardian.com
  
  Eric Monkman’s team beats Bobby Seagull’s in semi-final of TV quiz show, but Bobby is there to lend support in the finalIt was billed as a titanic final battle between two implacable enemies. After months of cerebral combat on BBC2’s University Challenge, two of the series’s breakout social media stars – the intensely focused Canadian Eric Monkman, of Wolfson College, Cambridge, and the expressive east Londoner Bobby Seagull, of Emmanuel College, Cambridge – w
  
  Read more

• Fredi Kanouté: ‘Muslims have to prove they are not terrorists before talking’ | Paul Doyle

  28-03-2017 18:43 via theguardian.com
  
  The former Sevilla and Mali striker is proud of his faith and would rather be known for working with orphans than his footballing achievementsFredi Kanouté jokes that he has joined a rock band but none of the motley crew he is touring with claims to be a professional musician. Instead the former West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur and Sevilla striker shares stages around the world with extraordinary characters such as Emi Mahmoud, a former Darfur refugee and Poetry Slam world champion, and
  
  Read more

Follow @GeneralnewsUK on Twitter!