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HEZBOLLAH’s secretary-general Naim Qassem has pledged the Lebanese group will stand by the Syrian government amid an advance by “terrorist groups” trying to sow chaos in the country. “They will not be able to achieve their goals despite what they have done in past days, and we as Hezbollah will be by Syria’s side in thwarting the goals of this aggression as much as we can,” Qassem said on Thursday, adding that the “aggression” is sponsored by the United States and Israel. His comments came hours after Syrian opposition forces captured the strategic city of Homs in central Syria, their…

FRENCH President Emmanuel Macron says he will stay on “until the end” of his five-year term, until May 2027, after a no-confidence vote in parliament toppled the government. Speaking to the nation in a televised address on Thursday, Macron said he would name a new prime minister in the “coming days”. “The mandate you have given me is for five years, and I will exercise it until the very end,” Macron asserted during the 10-minute speech. He pointed blame at his opponents on the far right for bringing down the government of Prime Minister Michel Barnier. He said they chose…

A FAN of English football club Arsenal, who was celebrating the team’s victory over Manchester United, has allegedly been shot dead by a security guard in Uganda. Another fan was injured as the guard opened fire on a large crowd of jubilant supporters at a restaurant in Lukaya town in central Uganda, about 100km (62 miles) from the capital Kampala. It happened towards the end of the match, which Arsenal won 2-0. A local journalist told the BBC that the building’s manager was angered by the noise that the jubilant supporters were making and asked the guard to intervene. However,…

TOGO will hold its first elections for the upper house of parliament, the senate, on February 2, one of the last steps towards implementing a contested new constitution, the government said on Thursday. The overhaul abolishes the election of the head of state by universal suffrage and introduces a parliamentary system. It has been slammed by opposition and civil society groups as a ploy by President Faure Gnassingbe to hold on to power indefinitely. Togo’s strongman has ruled over the small West African country of 8.8 million people since 2005, when he took over from his father in power for…

ARSENAL scored twice from corners to beat Manchester United as Ruben Amorim suffered his first defeat in English football. Defenders Jurrien Timber and William Saliba did the damage as Arsenal took advantage of Liverpool dropping points to trim their lead at the top of the Premier League table. Arsenal sit third with 28 points, level on that mark with Chelsea and seven behind Arne Slot’s Reds. The home side took the lead in the 54th minute when Declan Rice’s corner was headed in at the near post by full-back Timber. The Gunners then almost doubled their lead when United’s Manuel…

HUMAN rights group Amnesty International has concluded that Israel’s war on Gaza meets the legal threshold for genocide in a damning new report. The report published on Thursday, titled, “You Feel Like You Are Subhuman”: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza, is the culmination of months of research by Amnesty, including extensive witness interviews, analysis of “visual and digital evidence”, including satellite imagery, and statements made by senior Israeli government and military officials. Amnesty said the Israeli military has committed at least three of the five acts banned by the 1948 Genocide Convention, including indiscriminate killings of civilians, causing serious…

MEXICO has announced its largest-ever seizure of the synthetic opioid fentanyl, as cross-border pressure mounts for the country to crack down on drug trafficking into the United States. In a statement on Wednesday, Omar Garcia Harfuch, Mexico’s secretary of security and citizen protection, said the haul came after authorities took “two separate actions” in the coastal state of Sinaloa. “In Sinaloa, the largest historical seizure of fentanyl was achieved,” Garcia Harfuch explained, saying that “more than a tonne of fentanyl pills” were intercepted. Two men were also arrested and firearms were confiscated. “These actions will continue until the violence in…

AT least 79 people have died from an unknown disease that is causing flu-like symptoms in south-western Democratic Republic of Congo, the health ministry says. The health ministry says the majority of people who have died are between the ages of 15 and 18. More than 300 people have been infected with patients exhibiting symptoms like fever, headaches, runny noses and coughs, breathing difficulties and anaemia. Response teams have been sent to Kwango Province, specifically the Panzi health zone, where the disease is most common, to manage cases and investigate the nature of the disease. Cephorien Manzanza, a civil society…

FRENCH nuclear firm Orano says the military authorities in Niger have taken control of its uranium mining operations in the West African country. After seizing power in a coup in July last year, Niger’s military rulers said they would revamp rules regulating the mining of raw materials by foreign companies. In June, they withdrew Orano’s permit to exploit one of the world’s largest uranium deposits. Orano then suspended production. This marks another escalation in the unravelling relationship between France and Niger, following the expulsion of French troops from its former colony. Niger’s authorities have not commented on Orano’s statement. The…

BAYERN Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer was sent off for the first time in his 866-match career on Tuesday, seeing a straight red for a last-man foul on Bayer Leverkusen’s Jeremie Frimpong. The 38-year-old rushed out of the box in typical fashion 18 minutes in to the German Cup last 16 clash, taking out an advancing Frimpong. Neuer was shown straight red, bringing Israel ‘keeper Daniel Peretz on for his Bayern debut, and was seen apologising to coach Vincent Kompany after leaving the field. Bayern’s captain has received a yellow card 23 times during his career. All have come at club…

THE Pentagon has confirmed that the United States carried out a strike against military assets in eastern Syria after a rocket attack near one of its bases. Pentagon spokesperson Pat Ryder told reporters on Tuesday that the US military struck weapons systems — including rocket launchers and a tank — that “presented a clear and imminent threat” to its forces in the area. The US strike comes as violence escalates across the war-torn country. Over the last week, armed opposition groups carried out a blistering offensive in northwest Syria against the government forces led by President Bashar al-Assad, ushering in…

SENIOR employees at several institutions offering nursing and midwifery courses in Afghanistan on Tuesday said women would be barred from classes, following an edict by the Taliban supreme leader. Health officials met with directors of education institutes on Monday in the capital Kabul to inform them of the ruling, an official from the public health ministry who was not authorised to speak to the media told AFP. “There is no official letter but the directors of institutes were informed in a meeting that women and girls can’t study anymore in their institutes,” he said. “They were not provided with any…

NETOMBO Nandi-Ndaitwah has been elected Namibia’s president and will be the country’s first female leader, results released by the country’s electoral commission show. The 72-year-old won with 57 percent of the vote, according to official results declared on Tuesday by the electoral commission, flouting predictions that she might be forced into a run-off. “The Namibian nation has voted for peace and stability,” Nandi-Ndaitwah said after being declared president-elect. Her win cements her governing South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) party’s 34-year hold on power since independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990 – a contested outcome. Opposition parties have rejected…

AN estimated 350,000 African artefacts and manuscripts, as well as human remains, photographs and natural history specimens, have been found in a university’s collections. Dr Eva Namusoke spent 15 months liaising with University of Cambridge librarians, curators and archivists, as well as delving into their stores, to uncover the items. It “is fairly common” for large museums not to display most of their collections, but it was “still surprising to see this scale and diversity from the entire African continent and some there for decades and decades”, she said. The project is the latest in recent work at the university…

ARSENAL will host Manchester United in the FA Cup third round next month in a meeting of the competition’s two most successful clubs. United are the holders after winning it for the 13th time last season, while Arsenal lifted the last of their record 14 trophies in 2020. The tie is set for the weekend of January 11-12 at the Emirates Stadium. Manchester City, winners in 2023 and runners-up in May, host fourth-tier Salford, owned by United’s ‘Class of 92’ made up of David Beckham, the Neville brothers, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Nicky Butt. Liverpool are also at home…

ISRAEL has killed eleven people, including a State Security officer, in separate attacks in Lebanon as it continues its assaults on the country since the ceasefire with Hezbollah came into effect last week. The truce agreement was pushed to the brink on Monday as Israel’s air strikes killed two people, and Hezbollah launched an attack against an Israeli military position in retaliation. Israel, then, responded with a series of air raids that killed at least nine people, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Hezbollah said on Monday that it carried out a “preliminary defensive response” to the “repeated violations” of…

A COMMITTEE of the United States Congress has backed the theory that a lab leak caused the COVID-19 pandemic. In a report released on Monday, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis said it had concluded that the coronavirus “likely emerged because of a laboratory or research related accident”. The 520-page report, which was two years in the making, looked at the federal and state-level response to the pandemic, as well as its origins and vaccination efforts. “This work will help the United States, and the world, predict the next pandemic, prepare for the next pandemic,…

AT least 56 people were killed in “deadly stampedes” at a football match in Guinea’s second-largest city of N’Zerekore, a statement from the junta-controlled government said Monday. “Protests of dissatisfaction with refereeing decisions led to stone-throwing by supporters, resulting in fatal stampedes” at Sunday’s match, the government statement said, which was published as a news ticker on national television. “Hospital services have put the provisional death toll at 56.” Earlier report by an eyewitness did not specify the exact number of causalities recorded. “There are bodies lined up as far as the eye can see in the hospital. Others are…

PROTESTS that have led to weeks of clashes with Mozambique’s security forces need to continue for “maybe two to three months”, the country’s opposition leader has told the BBC. Venâncio Mondlane has been calling on his supporters to protest against the results of October’s presidential elections, in which he came second to the candidate from the governing Frelimo party. The weeks-long demonstrations have led to violent encounters with the police and at least 67 people have been killed, local monitoring group Plataforma Decide said. Mondlane, who is now in hiding, told the BBC he thinks pressure from the protests could…

THE Supreme Council of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) reiterated, on Sunday, its constant positions and resolutions in support of Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara and in ensuring the security and stability of the Kingdom of Morocco, and preserving its territorial integrity. In the final communiqué issued following its 45th summit held today in Kuwait, the Council praised UN Security Council Resolution 2756 issued on October 31, 2024, regarding the Moroccan Sahara, and insisted on respect for state sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Supreme Council also emphasized “the importance of the special strategic partnership…