Success is synonymous with Olympique Lyonnais Feminin. Since being established in 2004, the French club have become one of the superpowers in women's football, lifting 38 trophies across the domestic and European stage. Their record in the Women's Champions League is unparalleled, winning the competition eight times in an 11-year period between 2011 and 2022. While Lyon remain a formidable force in the women's game, with a record-extending 12th European final appearance on the horizon if they overcome Arsenal over the next fortnight, other teams are catching up in terms of both investment and on-field success. In recent years they have been usurped on the European stage by fellow semi-finalists Barcelona, who are just three matches from a third Champions League title in a row. After nearly two decades as the passion project of former Lyon owner Jean-Michel Aulas, the club have turned to trailblazing American businesswoman Michele Kang to give them a new lease of life. BBC World Service's World Football podcast has taken a closer look at the club's unique journey. For more than 30 years, local businessman Aulas was Lyon. After becoming owner and president in 1987, following pleas from the city's mayor and F1 legend Alain Prost, he oversaw the men's club's transformation from a debt-ridden club languishing in the second tier to serial trophy-winners throughout the 2000s. Determined to replicate that success in women's football, he launched OL Feminin in 2004 and, under his ownership, the club attracted top overseas players, championed French talent like Wendie Renard, and opened France's first mixed-gender academy. It took three years to deliver silverware, winning the Premiere Ligue in 2006-07. The rest is history. "This guy was ahead of his time," former Lyon defender Lucy Bronze told the BBC's World Service. "To have someone that powerful say I want the women's team to do well, I want them to be the best, I want to give them everything. "He was the first one [to invest in women's football], not just with his money but with physically being there and how much he cared about the team. He enjoyed it just as much as the girls. He celebrated just as hard as we did." Aulas' ownership ended in 2022 when Eagle Football became the majority shareholders of the OL Groupe, which encompassed both the men's and women's teams - as well as a majority stake in NWSL side Seattle Reign, and he resigned from his 36-year presidency the following year. In 2023, the women's team changed hands again, with South Korea-born American businesswoman Kang, who made her fortune in healthcare IT, taking on majority ownership and making it a separate entity - "independent" - from the men's team. "We have reached the end of our model a bit," chief executive Vincent Ponsot said. "I think we needed a new lease of life, a new project. That is exactly what Michele brought with a much more global vision. "We now see clubs like Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City, Barcelona. There is competition and our ambition is to remain one of the best European clubs. If Michele had not arrived, I think it would have been almost impossible because we need France to move much faster than it does today." Described by the Financial Times as "arguably the first tycoon in women's football", Kang is a relative latecomer to football. She first became interested in the sport after meeting the World Cup-winning US women's team in 2019 and has since built up a portfolio of teams under her Kynisca Sports International group. In addition to Lyon, she has been the majority owner of NWSL team Washington Spirit since 2022 and purchased Women's Championship side London City Lionesses in 2023. "I realised these are the best of the best athletes around the world," Kang said, reflecting on her meeting with the USWNT. "I saw a significant lack of resources and attention. I saw the possibility of how women's football could explode with a little nudge and a little investment. "I am not alone and there are a lot of people who share the same passion. Two billion people watch the World Cup - it's growing." Kang's interest isn't limited to multi-club ownership, however, with a number of multi-million pound investments in women's sport, including a £39m global investment in improving the health of elite female athletes. Her plans for Lyon are no less grand. Her long-term ambitions include the construction of a dedicated women's centre, with a 15-18,000-seater stadium and a bigger training facility, while she has already invested heavily in improving the club's backroom staff. "The first thing she said to me was 'Vincent, what do you have to do for the OL women's team to have the same supervisions as the professional men's team?'. That was in August 2023," Ponsot said. "I told her, 'we have to hire 11 people to the staff', and she said, 'go on then'. Two months later, we had 11 more people and 24 staff to improve the support to players so they can perform. "The main thing we have evolved is in the performance sector. We have full-time nutritionists, physiotherapists, doctors, a performance manager, a psychologist. We have everything we need for the players to be in the best conditions to perform like the men's team." Lyon midfielder and USA captain Lindsey Heaps added: "[Michele] is incredible. I have never seen anything like this in the women's game, the sort of investment but also the way she speaks. "When she took over she was a bit shocked that it was such a prestigious club and still [have] things that we need. Sometimes you can look at it and think 'they have Champions League trophies, they are winning every single game' [but] it's still not to the standard we need." Another of Kang's priorities is increasing attendances at Lyon fixtures. "If you ask many female players what is at the top of your wishlist, they don't say I want to get paid more, I want bigger cars. They say, 'I want to play against the best players and best teams in a sellout stadium'. It's my job that we fill the stadium," she said. Lyon will travel to Emirates Stadium on Saturday (12:30 BST) for the first leg of their Champions League semi-final with Arsenal - a stadium where the Gunners recorded an average attendance of 52,029 across six matches last season. "When you see that Arsenal are filling Emirates Stadium, there is no reason why we can't," said Ponsot. "We realised that women's football has an audience with a strong increase in appetite, but we are having trouble making it a reality." Lyon are on course for a record-extending 18th league title this season, having already booked their place in May's end-of-season play-offs. Indeed, they have only lost two league matches over the past four seasons. That sustained success, coupled with Aulas' unmatched support, is seen by some as having had a negative impact on crowds, media interest, and investment in France. Women's football journalist Assile Toufaily said: "Some will say 'why should we come and watch football that isn't attractive because the level isn't that good?' We know OL are going to smash the other clubs 7-0. Fans aren't intrigued to come and watch. "They say if you want to have a better level of football, investors have to invest. Investors will then say why should we invest if the media isn't promoting the game? So you find yourself in a vicious circle and it's been like this for years." But she does not see Aulas' investment as the problem. "If he didn't invest in 2004, maybe no-one would ever have done it in France. Aulas isn't to blame, but maybe the problem is others didn't follow along." Kang, unsurprisingly, is undaunted by this, working with Ponsot to "find the profile" of women's football fans, with their own research indicating only a 5% overlap between fans who watch men's and women's matches. She will likely find a powerful ally in Aulas, who was elected vice-president of the French Football Federation in December 2023 and has taken over responsibility for development of women's football. "The French league is going to be very strong in years to come," vowed Aulas. "If I acted badly before by being too strong [when I was] with Lyon, you can expect me to act badly [in my role] with France."

Tensions rose online as actress, Opeyemi Aiyeola, publicly called out her colleague, Eniola Badmus, for what she described as a body-shaming comment on social media. The drama began when Aiyeola shared a video with her fans and Badmus, who serves as a special assistant to the House of Representatives Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, commented under the post, asking, “Ope where is your front hair?” This remark triggered Aiyeola, who went live on Instagram to express her hurt, labelling Eniola as hypocritical and insensitive, especially given that Badmus used to be body shamed in the past before her surgery. In Aiyeola’s words, “I didn’t expect this from you. You used to be the face of body shaming. You’ve spoken many times about how deeply it hurt you, yet here you are doing the same to someone else. What exactly is funny? What is that statement for?” Badmus later apologised, stating that the remark was a joke “made from a place of love”, but Aiyeola deleted the comment, calling it “fake and gaslighting”. Aiyeola further explained that she and Badmus were not close and had never exchanged personal banter, stressing that their lack of genuine friendship made the public comment distasteful. The actress concluded by thanking her supporters and reassuring them that she is “beautifully and wonderfully made,” expressing gratitude for the love she received. She noted that some of them had offered to buy her products to combat hair loss, though she responded that she didn’t need the items, while thanking them for their kind thoughts. Meanwhile, fans of both actresses have taken sides with their favourites. A fan of Aiyeola, Lily_touch1, wrote, “Do not joke with someone who doesn’t consider you as a friend. Respect boundaries.” But jayfukki, a fan of Badmus, wrote, “You just went overboard madam, there was nothing wrong with her asking. It was obviously in a joking manner. For you to react this way, it means you had her in mind.” However, Aiyeola cautioned her fans not to engage in any “battle” with Badmus’ fans. Whatever you see there, I can’t add and I can’t remove. It happened. I died and I saw myself in heaven.” In a startling revelation, Doris disclosed she had been in a long-term relationship with popular clergyman, Chris Okafor, dating back to 2017. She alleged that during the relationship, she became pregnant but later miscarried. According to her, their relationship was serious, with promises of marriage and intimacy that extended across the pastor’s home. “I practically lived in his house and all his daughters and his sister’s son, Obum, know me,” she claimed. “We had sex everywhere in the house because he was my boyfriend then and he promised me marriage.” However, when she realized he wasn’t committed to marrying her, Ogala said she moved on and eventually got married. But after experiencing marital issues, she reconnected with Chris, which led to the pregnancy that ended in a miscarriage. She stated she has proof of all communications, including the pregnancy test results and chat records. Ogala also revealed she was asked by Chris to help Prophet Jeremiah Omoto Fufeyin during a sensitive investigation into a missing child case. Acting on the advice of lawyers, she gathered evidence that she claimed cleared Prophet Jeremiah’s name. In appreciation, she said Prophet Jeremiah promised to gift her a car worth ₦35 million and pay her the amount in cash. Ogala said Chris convinced her to allow the money to be transferred to his account instead, citing concerns over her safety. “Chris told me Jeremiah had impregnated someone at his church before and paid ₦10 million. He didn’t want Jeremiah to have my number,” she explained. “But after Jeremiah confirmed full payment, Chris only gave me ₦10 million and said the rest hadn’t been paid.” Ogala said she eventually discovered the full ₦35 million had been paid to Chris, but he only gave her ₦20 million, leaving an unpaid balance of ₦15 million. She claims Chris blocked her and allegedly paid bloggers to suppress her story. Efforts to demand the remaining money reportedly led to her being arrested. “His lawyer advised him to file a case at the National Cybercrime Center and I was harassed,” she revealed. “Five days to my brother’s burial, I was arrested again. I spent three days in detention and was later taken to Abuja.”

Families on both sides of the border say their loved ones have been jailed for a crime they committed ‘unknowingly’. Diu, India – Boxes of sweets are being passed around as cheers and joy surround Rajeshwari Rama’s brick house, insulated with tin sheets, in the Vanakbara village of Diu, a federally-controlled island along the India-Pakistan coastline near Gujarat state in western India. Rama’s relatives and friends are talking at the top of their voices as they celebrate the release of her husband, fisherman Mahesh Rama, from the Landhi jail in neighbouring Pakistan’s largest city of Karachi, in February this year. Among the attendees is Laxmiben Solanki, 36, standing quietly in one corner. She does not taste the sweets. She is only marking her presence there, but remains preoccupied with thoughts of her husband, Premji Solanki. Premji, 40, has also been in Pakistan’s Landhi jail since December 2022, along with several other Indian fishermen. Their crime: crossing a disputed border in the Arabian Sea, which divides the South Asian nuclear powers and sworn enemies, for fishing. In February, Pakistan released 22 Indian fishermen who had been imprisoned by Pakistan’s Maritime Security Agency between April 2021 and December 2022, while they were fishing off the coast of Gujarat – also the home state of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Three of those released are from Diu, 18 from Gujarat, and the remaining one person from the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Though India and Pakistan share a heavily militarised land border, their International Maritime Boundary Line in the Arabian Sea is also largely disputed, especially in a zone called Sir Creek, a 96km (60-mile) tidal estuary that separates India’s Gujarat and Pakistan’s Sindh provinces. It is in this patch that fishermen from both India and Pakistan wander into deeper waters, often without realising they have entered foreign territory. Due to the terrain of the disputed territory, there is no border fencing, with a marshland acting as a natural boundary between the two nations. Several years and rounds of diplomatic talks between India and Pakistan have not been able to resolve the dispute, which has even seen military tensions between them. In 1999, India shot down a Pakistani aircraft carrying 16 naval officers over the alleged violation of Indian airspace near their maritime border. The incident occurred just a month after the two countries fought a war in Kargil, a snowy district in Indian-administered Kashmir. On March 17, India’s Ministry of External Affairs revealed that out of 194 Indian fishermen currently imprisoned in Pakistan, 123 are from Gujarat. According to the Indian government, it has 81 Pakistani fishermen in its custody. Families on both sides say their loved ones have been jailed for a crime they committed “unknowingly” – because they did not know they had ventured inside waters claimed by another country. Pakistan released Mauji Nathubhai Bamaniya, 55, in February because his osteoporosis had gotten worse. “I still can’t believe that I am sitting in my house, in my country, with my family. My decaying bones brought me back to my homeland,” Bamaniya tells Al Jazeera in Vanakbar village. Another fisherman, Ashok Kumar Solanki, is also back at home in Ghoghla village in Diu. He has hearing and speaking impairments and was among the 22 fishermen released on health grounds. But it is the families of those still imprisoned in Pakistan that find themselves caught in a cycle of recurring debt and debilitating anxiety. In another house, hidden amid palm trees in Vanakbara, Kantaben Chunilal, 60, looks with tired eyes at the dusty path leading to her home. She has been waiting for her son, Jashvant, since December 2022. Jashvant was barely 17 when he was arrested by Pakistani forces. He was the family’s sole breadwinner. Kantaben says she feels too ashamed to ask her relatives for more loans to fill the empty grain jars in her kitchen. She has borrowed nearly 500,000 rupees ($5,855) from several relatives for sustenance. “The government offers us a financial aid of $3 per day. It is not even half of what our men would earn,” she tells Al Jazeera. Out of desperation, Kantaben says she sometimes randomly visits relatives during mealtimes, hoping they will accommodate her as a guest and she may save some money that day. In the same village, Aratiben Chavda married fisherman Alpesh Chavda in 2020. Less than a year later, Alpesh was arrested by Pakistani forces while he was out fishing in the Sir Creek area. Aratiben tells Al Jazeera their 3-year-old son Kriansh, born about four months after Alpesh’s arrest, has never seen his father. “We make him see his father’s photos, so that one day, when Alpesh comes back, my child can recognise him,” she says, sobbing. Aratiben’s house is shaded by palm and coconut trees, insulating her and her son from India’s scorching heat. But there is no escaping the poverty that has gripped the household. Selling the refrigerator her parents had given her as a wedding gift supported her for about two months during the winter of 2023. Aratiben and her mother-in-law, Jayaben, also sell vegetables at the local market, making about $5 to $7 on good days. But she says there are too many days in between when they are unable to afford two meals. Indian activists and fishermen’s unions have been campaigning for the release of all the fishermen imprisoned by Pakistan. Chhaganbhai Bamania, a social worker in Diu, points out that under Pakistani law, fishermen who stray into that country’s waters should not be sentenced for more than six months. “But due to the hostility between India and Pakistan, citizens are caught in a crossfire for no fault of theirs. Their jail time is increased without them knowing or understanding it,” he says, adding that some Indian fishermen end up spending years behind bars. Bamania says families of jailed fishermen have been writing to top Indian officials to plead for their release, but accuses the government of moving at a “snail’s pace” to try and address their concerns. This pattern of arrests followed by a long wait for release is not new. Some, like 50-year-old Shyamjibhai Ramji, are repeat visitors to Pakistani jails. Ramji was arrested three times between 2000 and 2014. When he was released for a third time from a Karachi jail, his son made him swear he would never venture into the sea, “not even in his dreams or rather, nightmares”. “Catching fish is all I know,” he says. “We follow the stars’ movements while casting nets into the sea at night. Once, I wandered away from Okha Port, once from Porbandar Port. There are many like me who have been jailed more than once,” he tells Al Jazeera, referring to two prominent seaports in Gujarat. Ramji says he now prefers looking at the sea from a distance to avoid revisiting the “horrors” he faced in Pakistani custody. “They would keep us separately, away from Pakistani prisoners, and kept asking us the same questions, as if we were terrorists or like we were hiding something. When we said we are vegetarians, they gave us grass and boiled water for food. It was a nightmare every day,” he says. Shekhar Sinha, a retired Indian Navy officer, says the “greed of a larger catch drives fishermen to go beyond that imaginary line on water, often losing track of their exact position”. “Even Pakistani fishermen are arrested in similar circumstances. Generally, they are exchanged, except for those who fail during interrogations and are unable to answer questions properly,” he tells Al Jazeera. As efforts to free civilians on both sides of the border continue, women like Laxmiben hold onto hope, making a new promise to their children every day. Her eyes glisten with tears as she and her three teenage children – a son aged 18 and daughters who are 14 and 13 – await Premji’s release. “I keep telling my children that, ‘Your father will return tomorrow’. But that tomorrow has not happened for four years now. My tongue is tired of lying,” she says as she holds the hands of her elder daughter, Jigna, both looking at the waves hitting the Diu port. Beyond the waters lies Pakistan. And Premji. 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Russia and Ukraine continue long-range drone and missile attacks, but observe an informal ceasefire in the Black Sea. Russian drone strike on Ukraine's Kharkiv injures 8, including three children Russia has added new conditions for a ceasefire to a litany of existing ones, prompting United States President Donald Trump to threaten new sanctions against Russian oil. Visiting Russia’s newest nuclear submarine, the Arkhangelsk, on March 27, Russian President Vladimir Putin said a temporary administration should be installed in Ukraine to lead the country to elections. Russian officials have been trying to discredit Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy since negotiations began in February, in an apparent effort to undermine Ukraine’s position. For example, the Kremlin continued to accuse Ukraine of breaking a ceasefire on energy infrastructure, which Moscow proposed on March 18 and Kyiv has not agreed to. Russian and Ukrainian technical teams have failed to nail down what would be protected under the deal. On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he would give his US counterpart a list of energy facilities struck by Ukraine “so that they can present concrete evidence about what the word of the current Ukrainian authorities is worth, if you can call them authorities at all”. A day later, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov admitted Ukraine had not actually agreed to the moratorium. There were many other Russian objections in the ceasefire talks. Sergey Ryabkov, the Russian deputy foreign minister, told an interviewer on Tuesday that the US-led talks “leave no room for Russia’s core demand” to address “the root causes of this conflict” which officials in Moscow have defined as reversing NATO’s eastward expansion and the treatment of Russian minorities in Ukraine. Russia also objects to peacekeepers enforcing any ceasefire. Russian ambassador at large Rodion Miroshnik told an academic conference in Armenia on Wednesday that Russia saw any European force in Ukraine as “a blatant occupation of Ukraine by Europe”. The European Union has proposed putting a peacekeeping force in place after a peace agreement is signed. Trump began to show his first signs of impatience with the Russian position on Sunday, telling NBC in a phone call he was “angry and p****d off” with Putin and that he might place a “25 to 50-point tariff on all [Russian] oil” within the next month and sanction companies that buy it. It was unclear what the relevance of such tariffs would be. Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, banned all imports of Russian oil to the US in 2022. Trump’s impatience came on the day he played golf with Finnish President Alexander Stubb, who told him a deadline was necessary to make a ceasefire happen. “April 20 would be a good time for a full ceasefire without any conditions … because a deadline is needed, because it is Easter and because President Donald Trump will have been in office for three months,” Stubb later told reporters. Trump did not adopt Stubb’s suggestion, telling reporters on Monday the deadline was “psychological … If I think they’re tapping us along I will not be happy about it,” he said on board Air Force One. Asked if he thought Putin was stalling, he said, “I don’t know. I don’t think so. I think he wants to make a deal.” The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) suggested Putin was not likely to reach a quick ceasefire. ODNI’s 2025 Annual Threat Assessment on Thursday said Putin “appears resolved and prepared to pay a very high price to prevail in what he sees as a defining time in Russia’s strategic competition with the United States, world history, and his personal legacy”. Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence said Russia increased its assaults along the front line even as it negotiated a ceasefire. Combat clashes numbered 4,270 in March compared with 3,274 in February, it said. Russia was also not relaxing its use of glide bombs – some 10,577 have been used in the first three months of the year. All of last year, 40,000 were used, the ministry said. Russian forces may have seized the village of Novolyubivka near Lyman on Tuesday. Their long-range aerial attacks also continued unabated throughout the week. Russia launched 172 drones against Ukraine on March 29, of which 94 were shot down and 69 disoriented using electronic jamming. Several drones struck high-rise apartment blocks in Dnipro, setting at least a dozen houses alight. Four people were reported killed and 21 injured. Zelenskyy in his evening address said drones hit houses and a hospital in Kharkiv, injuring 55 people, including five children. German magazine Bild said Russia was improving its tactics by grouping drones in loitering formations at high altitudes before sending them all to strike a target at once. Russia sent 111 drones to strike a military hospital and civilian infrastructure in Kharkiv city on Sunday morning. Ukraine downed 65 and disoriented 34. Six Shahed drones also hit civilian properties in the Kharkiv region, causing several injuries. “The geography and brutality of Russian strikes, not just occasionally, but literally every day and night, show that Putin couldn’t care less about diplomacy,” Zelenskyy said in his evening address on Sunday. “For several weeks now, there has been a US proposal for an unconditional ceasefire. And almost every day, in response to this proposal, there are Russian drones, bombs, artillery shelling and ballistic strikes. Russia deserves increased pressure.” But Russian strikes continued, hurting civilians. On Wednesday a Russian missile injured 17 civilians including a child in Kryvyi Rih, part of an overnight attack of 74 Shahed drones, of which 41 were shot down and 20 disoriented, said the Ukrainian Air Force. The air force said it shot down more drones the following night. Only in the Black Sea did Russia seem to show any real will for a ceasefire. Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk said though there was no official ceasefire, in practice, Russian forces were not attacking Ukrainian ports, and the Black Sea Fleet remained in the eastern part of the Black Sea. Ukraine said it made advances in recruitment and training in the past months. Commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskii said improved training showed results in March. “We have … increased the duration [of training] to 1.5 months, introduced a mandatory adaptive period for newcomers to combat brigades, and this is yielding positive results,” he wrote on social media on Monday. “This month we recorded a decrease in losses compared to the previous ones.” Conscription is mandatory for Ukrainian males aged 25 and older. This year, Zelenskyy launched voluntary conscription for those aged 18-24. Last month Ukraine’s Defence Ministry increased the number of brigades accepting such volunteers from six to 16, expanding recruitment from land forces to naval, airborne and unmanned units. This week, Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said the 18-24 volunteer law had been amended to allow recruits to the National Guard and State Border Service in addition to the armed forces. Ukraine’s Defence Ministry said 884 people volunteered to join the armed forces in March, versus 9,765 for the entire war, suggesting volunteer recruitment rates were climbing. The Harpies, a volunteer unit operating unmanned vehicles, targets women, and last week advertised itself as “an environment for women who seek revenge on the enemy, to protect their children, families and the state”. “The unit also involves men, but the role of pilots delivering the final blow will be performed exclusively by women,” it said. Convicts are also playing a role. Ukrinform, the Ukrainian armed forces information service, said 8,000 former convicts had joined the armed forces and 900 applications were in process. Parole was approved in the May 2024 law that lowered the compulsory conscription age to 25. Ukraine has been designing its own weapons to boost autonomy, speed up construction, lower costs and allow their unrestricted use. This week the Defence Ministry reported it approved 350 new weapons for use so far this year, 87 percent of them domestically produced, compared with fewer than half of the 100 or so models approved last year. Europe continued to provide Ukraine with generous weapons support. Zelenskyy met German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in Kyiv on Tuesday and thanked her for a new 3bn-euro ($3.3bn) military aid package, bringing Germany’s 2025 total to 7bn euros ($7.7bn) and war total to 43bn euros ($47.4bn). The Netherlands on Monday said it was releasing a 500m-euro ($550m) tranche to help drone operations better integrate with ground operations. Sweden announced a $1.6bn aid package to improve Ukraine’s air defence, artillery, satellite communications and naval capabilities. The United Kingdom and France said on Wednesday they would chair a meeting of countries contributing peacekeepers at NATO headquarters on April 10. The UK and Germany, meanwhile, plan to chair a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group providing weapons to Ukraine the following day. It will be the second Ramstein meeting not attended by the US, which has adopted a neutral stance. Asked whether Europe was willing to enter a dialogue with Putin, Kremlin spokesman Peskov said on Thursday, “There have been no signals yet.” Follow Al Jazeera English:...