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West African military chiefs were to meet Wednesday to frame a response to the crisis in Niger, a week after the fragile country was shaken by a coup that alarmed its neighbours and prompted France, the former colonial power, to evacuate its citizens.

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) leaders on Sunday imposed trade and financial sanctions and gave the coup leaders a week to reinstate Niger’s democratically elected president or face potential use of force. ECOWAS military chiefs were to launch a three-day meeting in the Nigerian capital Abuja, coinciding with a visit to Niamey by a delegation led by former Nigerian president Abdulsalami Abubakar, sources said.

The current chair of ECOWAS is Nigeria, West Africa’s military and economic superpower. It has vowed to take a firm line against coups that have proliferated across the region since 2020, most of them the outcome of a bloody jihadist insurgency. “We are ready, and as soon as we receive the order to intervene, we will do so,” Nigeria’s chief of staff Christopher Musa said in an interview on RFI Hausa on Monday.

But junta-ruled Mali and Burkina Faso warned that any military intervention in their neighbour would be tantamount to a “declaration of war” against them. General Salifou Mody, one of the Nigerien coup leaders, arrived with a delegation in the Malian capital Bamakou on Wednesday, a senior Nigerien official and a Malian security official told AFP. They did not give further details.

Mody is a former army chief of staff who was fired by President Mohamed Bazoum in April.

Former Italy goalkeeper and World Cup winner Gianluigi Buffon has retired from football aged 45. He wrote on social media: "That's all folks. You gave me everything. I gave you everything. We did it together."

Buffon brings an end to a 28-year career that saw him lift the World Cup in 2006 along with 10 Serie A titles with Juventus and Ligue 1 with Paris St-Germain. He ends his career where it began in 1995, at Parma, now a Serie B club. Buffon, who had a deal with Parma until 2024, made 19 appearances last season as he struggled with injuries.

He began his career at Parma's academy and made his Serie A debut for the club in November 1995 before joining Juventus in 2001, where he spent most of his career, despite a stint at PSG in 2018-19.

He made a record 657 appearances in the Italian top flight and is the most-capped goalkeeper of all time with 176 appearances for Italy.

Presidential spokesman, Dele Alake, says he will support the strengthening of social media regulations if appointed Minister of Information and Culture by President Bola Tinubu. Alake, from Ekiti State, is one of the 28 ministerial nominees of Tinubu for screening. He appeared before the red chamber on the third consecutive day (Wednesday) of the exercise.

Alake was a Commissioner of Information and Strategy in Lagos State when Tinubu was governor of the state from May 1999 to May 2007. Tinubu previously appointed Alake as his spokesman and later as a ministerial nominee.

Responding to questions from lawmakers on Wednesday, Alake advocated value reorientation from the family level to the national level. “I will support serious attitudinal change if I find myself in office responsible to attitudinal change,” he told the lawmakers. “On social media regulation, there is some concern, not just here but all over the world but particularly in our environment about the pernicious nature of the social media or the effect.”

Alake said there are the positive and negative sides of the social media, however, “the downside of social media is that it is detrimental to a good and decent society”. “What I would support is the strengthening of regulations,” the nominee from Ekiti State noted.

West Africa’s regional bloc on Wednesday said a military intervention in junta-ruled Niger was “the last resort” as Nigeria cut electricity supplies to intensify pressure on the country’s coup leaders. As ex-colonial power France sent in a fifth plane to evacuate its citizens, coup leader General Abdourahamane Tiani insisted they had no reason to quit the country.

Joining the departures, the United States ordered a partial evacuation of its embassy in Niamey. West African military chiefs were meeting in Nigeria’s capital Abuja to frame a response while a delegation was in Niger for negotiations, a week after the coup that shook the fragile nation.

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) leaders on Sunday imposed trade and financial sanctions, giving the coup leaders a week to reinstate Niger’s democratically elected president or face the possible use of force. “(The) military option is the very last option on the table, the last resort, but we have to prepare for the eventuality,” said Abdel-Fatau Musah, ECOWAS commissioner for political affairs, peace and security.

An ECOWAS team headed by former Nigerian leader Abdulsalami Abubakar was in Niger for talks, he added at the start of a three-day meeting of the grouping’s military chiefs in Abuja. West Africa’s pre-eminent military and economic power Nigeria, the current chair of ECOWAS, has vowed a firm line against coups that have proliferated across the region since 2020.

A source in Niger’s power company, Nigelec, said Nigeria had cut electricity to its neighbour as a result of the sanctions.

Niger, one of the world’s poorest countries, depends on Nigeria for 70 percent of its power. Junta-ruled Mali and Burkina Faso have warned any military intervention in their neighbour would be tantamount to a “declaration of war” against them.

Chelsea 1-1 Borussia Dortmund: Mauricio Pochettino hopes Christopher Nkunku injury is not "big issue"

Boss Mauricio Pochettino hopes an injury suffered by striker Christopher Nkunku is not a "big issue" as Chelsea drew 1-1 with Borussia Dortmund to end their pre-season US tour undefeated. Mason Burstow scored a 90th-minute equaliser for Chelsea after Marius Wolf gave Dortmund the lead in Chicago.

£52m signing Nkunku, 25, went off in the 22nd minute after appearing to injure his knee when he was tackled. The pitch at Chicago's Soldier Field was in poor condition. Areas were patchy and worn after the stadium, home to the NFL's Chicago Bears, was used for an Ed Sheeran concert attended by 73,000 people last weekend. "The doctors are checking him," explained Pochettino, who felt the tackle which forced Nkunku off "maybe" should have resulted in a penalty.

"He had the chance to score but he feels something in his knee. "Hopefully it is not a big issue and that he can be quick with the team. We need a few days to assess him and until we get back to London it is difficult to know. "Always we take some risks because the pitch is not perfect as they are using it for different sports and that is sometimes the risk of the tour.

"I think it was a bit unlucky in the situation but we cannot complain about the pitch and to blame the pitch for why he suffered the injury. For me, it was bad luck."

A ministerial nominee from Kwara State, Lateef Fagbemi, says the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Department of State Services (DSS) cannot continue to disobey court orders. The Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who spoke on Wednesday when he was screened by the Senate in Abuja, pledged to work with the National Assembly and the judiciary “on certain parameters” if appointed the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice by President Bola Tinubu.

Fielding questions from the lawmakers on disobedience to court orders by federal agencies, Fagbemi, who was accompanied to the screening exercise by over 10 senior advocates, said the DSS and the EFCC should conduct investigation before arrest and not arrest before investigation. He said, “The major areas where we have these disobedience of court orders, with main respect, are between these agencies. My advice will be that in matters of law, the AGF should be involved.

“DSS cannot be an island onto itself. EFCC cannot continue to behave as if there is no law. There is law and if you want to do investigation, you do investigation before inviting the accused person. It is not a question of inviting him and say you have caught a big fish and at the end of the day you say you are investigating.”

On his reaction if a President flouts court orders, the senior lawyer said, “I think with respect, you will not find the President flouting any order because the Attorney General will be made a party to.” “The mere fact an order is made does not mean that you should obey it immediately. You’ll think about it, do I appeal? If I am not appealing what do I do next? If I am not appealing, of course, I cannot subject the order of court to any order of validity.

“By Section 287, it has to be obeyed, not only by the government but by every authority and persons in Nigeria,” he said.