Author: Editor

HAITI’s government has set up a provisional electoral council to prepare the troubled Caribbean country for its first general elections since 2016. The electoral council represents groups including farmers, journalists, human rights activists and the Vodou community and is tasked with setting up a legal framework for elections and organising the poll, which is due to be held by 2026. The council created on Wednesday has seven members, the prime minister’s office said on social media platform X. Two other seats, one for human rights groups and another for women’s rights organisations, still lack a delegate, the office added. Smith…

THOUSANDS of supporters of Ghana’s main opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), have been protesting nationwide to demand an independent forensic audit of the country’s voter register. Party officials say they have identified errors in the electoral roll for December’s nationwide poll that require correction. The election authority says errors that were previously identified have been corrected. Ghana, which has held a series of peaceful but hotly contested votes over the past three decades, is heading for another knife-edge presidential election. In the capital, Accra, demonstrators clad in red and white T-shirts, carried placards with inscriptions such as “we…

MILITANTS insurgents in Burkina Faso have stepped up attacks on civilians, carrying out door-to-door killings, slitting throats and targeting Christian worshippers, a report by campaign group Human Rights Watch (HRW) says. It quoted data showing that more than 6,000 deaths, including around 1,000 civilians killed by militants, have been recorded in the West African state in the first eight months of the year. Burkina Faso has been battling militant groups, including those linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS), since 2016. When Captain Ibrahim Traoré seized power in a coup two years ago, he pledged to improve the dire…

MANCHESTER United enjoyed the ‘perfect night’ as their biggest victory under Erik ten Hag to cruise into the EFL Cup last-16 at the expense of hapless League One outfit Barnsley. Marcus Rashford, Alejandro Garnacho and veteran midfielder Christian Eriksen all scored twice, while Brazilian winger Antony converted a first-half spot-kick in what turned into a rout by the end. It was United’s biggest win since they hammered Southampton 9-0 in February 2021 when the stands were still empty due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It was certainly a night to remember as far as Ten Hag’s tenure is concerned. United had…

ON Sunday, Yemen’s AnsarAllah, commonly known as the Houthis, launched what they said was a hypersonic missile at central Israel. It caused fires, triggered air raid sirens, and sent residents running for shelter in the area around Ben Gurion Airport. The Houthis said Israeli defence systems could not take down their missile. An Israeli official said nine people suffered minor injuries. The Houthis have been attacking ships they see as linked to Israel – in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait – since November, in proclaimed solidarity with Palestinians and against Israel’s continuing war…

INFECTIONS of drug-resistant superbugs are projected to kill nearly 40 million people over the next 25 years, a global analysis predicted on Monday, with the researchers urging action to avoid this grim scenario. Superbugs — strains of bacteria or pathogens that have become resistant to antibiotics, making them much harder to treat — have been recognised as a rising threat to global health. The analysis has been billed as the first research to track the global impact of superbugs over time and to estimate what could happen next. More than a million people died from the superbugs — also called…

GUNMEN attacked a military police base early Tuesday in the Malian capital Bamako where gunfire and explosions were heard and the airport was closed, sources, witnesses and an AFP correspondent said. “This morning armed men attacked at least one military police base in Bamako. They have not been formally identified,” a police source told AFP on condition of anonymity. Volleys of gunfire interspersed with explosions began at around 5:00 am and black smoke could be seen rising from an area near the airport. “Bamako airport is temporarily closed due to events,” an airport official said without saying how long the…

POLICE in Namibia are investigating the death of four children who were playing in an empty old freezer in the north-eastern Zambezi Region. Aged between three and six, the children were found inside the unused deep freezer in the densely populated area of the town of Katima Mulilo on Monday afternoon. The police believe the children were accidentally trapped while playing and suffocated inside but investigations are under way. Of the four children, two suffocated to death in the fridge while two others died in the hospital while receiving treatment, the public broadcaster reported. “When I came in, I saw…

THE hearing into Manchester City’s 115 charges for alleged breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules began on Monday. City were charged and referred to an independent commission in February 2023 following a four-year investigation. It is alleged City breached its financial rules between 2009 and 2018. City strongly deny all charges and have said their case is supported by a “comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence”. The Premier League claim City breached rules requiring the club to provide “accurate financial information that gives a true and fair view of the club’s financial position”. This information covered club revenue, which includes…

THREE Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli attack on Gaza City, following a day of bombardment that killed at least 35 people across Gaza, the Palestinian Civil Defence says. UN rights experts warn that Israel will become a “pariah” over its “genocide” in Gaza, in a joint news conference in Geneva. At least one Palestinian has been killed and others wounded in an Israeli bombing of a home in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera Arabic’s correspondent reports. Two other homes were also attacked, AJA reported, citing Palestinian media, with Israeli forces preventing ambulance…

RYAN W Routh, the 58-year-old man suspected of planning to assassinate Donald Trump, has been charged with two gun-related crimes in federal court a day after being spotted with a rifle on the perimeter of the former United States president’s golf course in Florida. Phone records suggest the suspect may have been lying in wait for nearly 12 hours, hiding in the bushes with a loaded SKS semi-automatic rifle, according to court documents filed on Monday. Routh, who appeared briefly in federal court in West Palm Beach, did not fire any shots and never had Trump in his line of…

THE three West African countries run by military juntas will be launching a new biometric passports “in the coming days” as part of their withdrawal from the wider regional bloc Ecowas. Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, whose military leaders took over power in series of coups between 2020 and 2023, announced their plan to leave the bloc in January. Following the coups, West African countries sanctioned the juntas, aiming to push them to quickly restore civilian rule. But the three nations that now form the Alliance of Sahel States have so far resisted the calls, opting to cement their alliance.…

RESCUERS in Sierra Leone are continuing to search for more survivors after a seven-storey building collapsed in the capital Freetown, killing at least eight people. The West African country’s National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) said six people had been rescued from the rubble on Shell New Road so far, but “more people remain trapped”. It added that some of those in the rubble had been “able to communicate their locations” to the rescuers. The building in eastern Freetown collapsed between 11:00 and 12:00 local time (12:00 and 13:00 BST) on Monday, the NDMA said. Two girls and a boy -…

NATIONAL Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Ganduje, has expressed optimism that President Bola Tinubu’s economic policies would in the end elevate Nigerians’ standard of living. Ganduje stated this in a statement which he personally signed on Sunday to felicitate with Muslim Umma on the occasion Eid Maulud. According to him, President Tinubu’s passion for transformative change requires the support of all to succeed. While asking the faithful to reflect on the Prophet’s exemplary life and strive to emulate his noble qualities, the APC national chairman admitted that the country needs the collective prayer and support of…

THE giants of the European leagues continued to flex their muscles this weekend as Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Paris St-Germain maintained their 100% records. Teenager Lamine Yamal shone for Barca with two goals in their 4-1 win at Girona while Harry Kane hit his fifth hat-trick in a Bayern shirt as they thrashed Bundesliga new boys Holstein Kiel. There were goals for Tammy Abraham and Conor Gallagher too. Barcelona stayed top of the standings in Spain as Yamal scored twice in a dominant first half. Dani Olmo and Pedri also found the net before former Manchester City winger Ferran Torres,…

AFTER denials for months, the Israeli military says there is a “high probability” its air strike was responsible for the deaths of three Israeli captives in Gaza in November. The military on Sunday said it was unaware the captives were present in a tunnel in the Palestinian territory when they launched the attack on November 10, 2023. The bodies of the three captives – Corporal Nik Beizer, Sergeant Ron Sherman and French-Israeli national Elia Toledano – were recovered on December 14. But the cause of death was not determined. “The findings of the investigation suggest a high probability that the…

FORMER United States President Donald Trump said he is “safe and well” after gunshots were reported in his vicinity as he played golf at his resort in Florida. The FBI said it is “investigating what appears to be an attempted assassination of former President Trump”, in the incident the Secret Service said occurred before 2pm local time (18:00 GMT) on Sunday. “I am safe and well, and no one was hurt. Thank God!” Trump said in a statement on his website. “But, there are people in this world who will do whatever it takes to stop us,” the Republican presidential…

OLYMPIC marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei, who was set ablaze by her former boyfriend and later died has been buried in her father’s homestead in eastern Uganda. As she was also a member of Uganda’s armed forces, soldiers carried the coffin and she was given a three-volley salute. Dickson Ndiema attacked Cheptegei with petrol just under a fortnight ago outside her home in neighbouring north-west Kenya, close to where she trained. The 33-year-old’s killing, and its brutal nature, left her family distraught and shocked many others across the world. It underscored the high levels of violence against women in Kenya and…

BOTSWANA’s former President Ian Khama has unexpectedly returned to the country after three years of self-imposed exile, appearing in court to face charges, including money laundering and owning illegal firearms. The 71-year-old had only recently claimed there was a plot to poison him if he set foot on home soil. The government called those allegations “outrageous”. Supporters chanted “the general is back” as Khama left the courthouse on Friday in the capital, Gaborone. “We were taken by surprise,” said state prosecutor Ambrose Mubika of Khama’s decision to appear. Ian Khama led Botswana for 10 years until 2018. He is not…

VINICIUS Junior and Kylian Mbappe both struck from the penalty spot to earn Real Madrid a 2-0 win at Real Sociedad in La Liga on Saturday. The Spanish champions moved within a point of leaders Barcelona who face last season’s surprise package Girona on Sunday. Real Sociedad hit the woodwork on three occasions before Madrid’s second half spot-kicks earned them three points from an end-to-end clash at the Reale Arena. “It was a tough game, probably we didn’t deserve to win because Real Sociedad played very well… but we bore it out, we suffered, we were committed in the tough…