Asamoah Gyan's permanent departure from Sunderland looks more likely after the Al Ain chief executive, Carlo Nohra, claimed he was "very confident" of signing the striker on a new deal.

Doctors fighting to deliver life-saving vaccines to the developing world have criticised British mothers who refuse to vaccinate their children.

In a week replete with intriguing cross-pollinations of style and sound, this may be both the most deliberate, yet the loosest-sounding.

Jermain Defoe faces a battle to win back his international place after he was left out of the England squad for next week's friendly against the Netherlands, but he believes his record for his country makes him impossible to ignore for Euro 2012.

The arrival of Ghanaian great Kwame Nkrumah in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa 40 years after his death has been met with notable local resistance.

Zambia 0 Ivory Coast 0; after extra time; Zambia win 8-7 on penalties

Midfielder Samba Sow was dancing in front of his team-mates in jubilation after his Mali side secured an unexpected 2-0 victory over 10-man Ghana in the third-place match at the African Cup of Nations on Saturday. It was the country's best finish at the tournament since it lost the 1972 final.

Ivory Coast will play Zambia in the final of the African Cup of Nations on Sunday after both narrowly won their semi-finals yesterday.

The Ghana captain, John Mensah, scored a rare goal and was then sent off as the African Cup of Nations favourites, Ghana, laboured to a 1-0 win over Botswana in their opening Group D match yesterday.

Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien has insisted he feels stronger than ever after making his comeback from his latest serious knee injury.

As a new festival at the Southbank explores the way cultures around the globe deal with our final exit, Arifa Akbar asks whether it is time for us to lose the morbidity left by the Victorians and reconsider the way we say goodbye

Asamoah Gyan was included in Ghana's squad for the African Nations Cup finals after coach Goran Stevanovic decided his hamstring injury had recovered enough to be included, the country's football association announced today.

Mick McCarthy believes Wolves winger Matt Jarvis has regained the form which won him an England cap ahead of tonight's home Premier League match with Norwich.