Author: Editor

THE Central Bank of Nigeria is reported to be preparing to retire approximately 1,000 employees as part of a strategic workforce realignment. A severance package worth over N50 billion was said to have been allocated as the payoff for the exercise. According to an insider, the retirement initiative is driven by the need to streamline operations and reduce staff numbers under the leadership of the apex bank’s Governor, Olayemi Cardoso. This newspaper reported on Monday that a circular released three weeks ago by the CBN noted that the application for Early Exit Package (EPP) was open to all cadres of…

LIVERPOOL opened up a nine-point lead at the top of the Premier League as Manchester City’s crisis deepened in a 2-0 defeat at Anfield on Sunday. Cody Gakpo’s 12th-minute goal was scant reward for the Reds’ first-half domination and they sealed an 18th win in 20 games under Arne Slot thanks to Mohamed Salah’s penalty. City are now 11 points off the runaway leaders down in fifth and winless in seven games, including six defeats. Arsenal and Chelsea are Liverpool’s closest challengers as City appear set to lose their crown as English champions after winning an unprecedented four consecutive titles.…

AT least four Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli operation in the occupied West Bank, according to authorities. The attack occurred in the village of Sir near Jenin on Sunday, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. It said the killings were a result of “the occupation’s aggression”. Israel’s military also confirmed that four Palestinians were killed, describing them as “terrorists”. The Palestine Red Crescent Society, meanwhile, reported that Israeli forces had been “preventing our teams from reaching the bombing site”. Fares Irshaid, a resident of Sir, described the attack to the AFP news agency. “In the morning, the…

US President-elect Donald Trump aims to make loyalist Kash Patel the next director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, he said on Saturday, in a move that would mean replacing the agency’s current leader. Trump announced the former advisor and Pentagon official, who has been critical of the bureau and is known for his controversial views on a so-called government “deep state,” as his choice for the post on his Truth Social network. The FBI’s current director, Christopher Wray, was appointed to a 10-year term in 2017, meaning he would either need to step down or be fired. The FBI…

NAMIBIA’s main opposition party has said it will not recognise results from this week’s general election, where there have been logistical problems and voting was extended in several places. In a statement on Saturday, Panduleni Itula, the presidential candidate for the opposition Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) alleged there had been “glaring and undeniable” electoral malpractices. He had been aiming to defeat the candidate for the South West Africa People’s Organisation (Swapo), which has been in power since independence in 1990. Swapo’s flagbearer, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, is seeking to become the country’s first female president. Voting began on Wednesday but in…

POLICE in Tanzania are investigating the reported kidnapping of opposition youth leader Abdul Nondo. The ACT Wazalendo party said Nondo was abducted by unknown assailants from a bus station in the main city, Dar es Salaam. Police confirmed that a man was taken from the bus station in the early hours of Sunday by two individuals traveling in a white four-wheel-drive vehicle. While the identity of the victim is yet to be officially confirmed, the police said the abducted man left behind a bag containing items which are believed to belong to the youth leader. This incident follows the kidnapping…

BOTAFOGO clinched the first Copa Libertadores in their 123-year history with an incredible victory over Brazilian rivals Atletico Mineiro. The River Plate Stadium in Argentina was stunned just 30 seconds into the final when Botafogo midfielder Gregore was sent off for a high kick to the head of Fausto Vera. After having their hearts in their mouths for 34 minutes, the Botafogo fans were sent wild after a rare foray forward ended in Luiz Henrique smashing home with his left foot inside the box. Buoyed by that, the 10 men ventured forward again and goalscorer Henrique was fouled in the…

THE Israeli military has killed three workers with the World Central Kitchen (WCK) and at least two other people in an air strike on a vehicle in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, in what was the third deadly attack on the aid group this year. The US-based charity, which runs community kitchens in Gaza, said it had paused its operations in Gaza after the attack on Saturday. “We are heartbroken to share that a vehicle carrying World Central Kitchen colleagues was hit by an Israeli air strike in Gaza,” WCK said in a statement. “At this time, we are working with…

MORE than 122,000 people have been forced out of their homes as massive floods caused by relentless rains swept through Malaysia’s northern states, disaster management officials said Saturday. The number surpassed the 118,000 evacuated during one of the country’s worst floodings in 2014, and disaster officials feared it could rise further as there was no let-up in torrential downpours. The death toll remained at four recorded across Kelantan, Terengganu and Sarawak. Kelantan state bore the brunt of the flooding, accounting for 63 percent of the 122,631 people evacuated, according to data from the National Disaster Management Agency. Nearly 35,000 people…

MAURITIUS’ new prime minister said he has asked for an independent review of a deal with the United Kingdom over the future of the Chagos Islands. Under the agreement, which has still to be signed, the UK would relinquish sovereignty over the archipelago but maintain a 99-year lease over Diego Garcia, home to a major UK-US military airbase. A spokesperson for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Thursday that Navin Ramgoolam had “indicated he was open” to the historic deal. Ramgoolam, who was elected prime minister of Mauritius two weeks ago, told the Mauritian parliament he had asked for…

FRANCE has for the first time acknowledged that its soldiers carried out a “massacre” in Senegal in which dozens – perhaps hundreds – of West African troops were killed almost exactly 80 years ago, Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye has said. Those who died were part of the Tirailleurs Senegalais unit, recruited at the start of World War Two to help defend France, the colonial power. On returning to Senegal in 1944 many protested about their pay, historians say, which led to a brutal response. The killings have been a point of contention between Senegal and France and their reported…

LEICESTER named Ruud van Nistelrooy as the club’s new manager on Friday, just weeks after his departure from Manchester United. The Dutchman left United earlier this month after a short spell as interim boss and previously serving as assistant to Erik ten Hag. Leicester sacked Steve Cooper on Sunday after just 12 Premier League games in charge, with the Foxes 16th in the table and only one point above the relegation zone. “I’m proud, I’m excited. Everybody that I speak to about Leicester City Football Club is enthusiastic,” said Van Nistelrooy in a club statement. “The recent history of the…

HEZBOLLAH’s leader says he will work with the Lebanese army to enforce the ceasefire the group agreed with Israel, as the shaky truce largely held on its third day after more than a year of fighting. In his first televised address since the truce went into effect, Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem said on Friday that he did not envision “problems or disagreement” with the army, which under the terms of the deal will deploy to southern Lebanon over 60 days as Hezbollah fighters and Israeli forces withdraw. “The coordination between the resistance and the Lebanese army will be at a…

SOCIAL media giants on Friday hit out at a landmark Australian law banning them from signing up under-16s, describing it as a rush job littered with “many unanswered questions”. The UN children’s charity UNICEF Australia warned the law was no “silver bullet” against online harm and could push kids into “covert and unregulated” spaces online. The legislation, approved by parliament on Thursday, orders social media firms to take “reasonable steps” to prevent young teens from having accounts. It is due to come into effect after a year. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the age limit may not be implemented perfectly…

ERITREAN residents in Ethiopia’s capital have reported widespread arrests among their community, sparking fear among refugees and asylum seekers who fled their homes in search of a better life. While not unprecedented, the scale and intensity of the current crackdown in Addis Ababa is significant, with hundreds reportedly detained in recent weeks. The city’s police did not respond to the BBC’s requests for comment but the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission – an independent body set up by the country’s parliament – said it would launch an investigation. Eritrea and Ethiopia share a border and tension between the two neighbours has…

ONE of Africa’s best known musicians – the Malian singer Rokia Traoré – has reportedly been imprisoned in Belgium as part of an ongoing child custody dispute. The 50-year-old is being held after being extradited from Italy, over an outstanding two-year prison sentence, according to the AFP news agency. The long-running saga dates back to 2020 when Traoré was initially detained in France on a Belgian arrest warrant after failing to heed a court order to hand over her daughter to the girl’s Belgian father. Months after she was conditionally released, Traoré flew out to Mali on a private flight,…

MANCHESTER United made a winning Old Trafford start under new boss Ruben Amorim as his side came from behind to beat Norwegian team Bodo/Glimt in the Europa League. United scored after just 81 seconds in Amorim’s first game in charge at Ipswich, and took them just 48 seconds to find the net this time around. A catastrophic error from goalkeeper Nikita Haikin, who inexplicably allowed Rasmus Hojlund to close him down as he went to make a routine clearance, followed gave Alejandro Garnacho a tap-in. But rather than pave the way for an easy victory, it was the prelude for…

ISRAEL and Lebanon have accused each other of breaching a ceasefire agreement as the Israeli military said it attacked a Hezbollah facility in southern Lebanon. The attack on Thursday came hours after the Israeli military said it had fired on people in several areas in southern Lebanon who it said were violating the terms of the ceasefire. The Lebanese army accused Israel of violating the ceasefire several times on Wednesday and Thursday. Under the terms of the ceasefire deal, brokered by the US and France, Hezbollah fighters and Israeli forces are to gradually withdraw from southern Lebanon over 60 days.…

THE United States on Tuesday provided the first official confirmation that its long-range Army Tactical Missiles (ATACMS) were in use in Russia, as Europe absorbed the ramifications of Russia’s retaliatory response with an intermediate ballistic missile that could strike “anywhere in Europe”. As the question of strategic escalation swirled around NATO capitals and Moscow, Russian forces continued a dogged advance through Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, seizing more villages. “Right now, they are able to use ATACMS to defend themselves, you know, in an immediate-need basis,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters. “And right now, you know, understandably,…

AT least 113 people are missing, and at least 15 people are known to have died after a landslide in eastern Uganda, the police say. The landslides triggered by heavy rainfall affected multiple villages in the Bulambuli district, about 280 km (178 miles) from the capital Kampala. A rescue operation is underway after at least 40 houses were swept away, the Ugandan Red Cross Society said on X. The Ugandan police said that as well as the 15 bodies, another 15 injured people had been rescued and admitted to hospital. At least six of the bodies recovered have been children,…