A SPANISH tourist has been trampled to death by elephants after climbing out of his car to take photos of the herd at a game reserve in South Africa. The unnamed 43-year-old man was visiting Pilanesberg National Park on Sunday morning with his fiancee and two other people when the attack happened, according to police. The group had been driving around in their own vehicle before spotting three elephants with three calves, officers said. Once the man got out of the car and walked towards the herd, the matriarch became “agitated” and charged at him, said Pieter Nel, a spokesman…
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A YOUNG Tanzanian portrait artist who was convicted last week of cybercrimes has been released from prison after social media users raised more than $2,000 (£1,600) to pay his fine. Shadrack Chaula was ordered by a court to pay the fine or face two years in prison after he admitted recording a video that went viral on social media, showing him burning a picture of President Samia Suluhu Hassan while insulting her. “Thank you very much fellow Tanzanians for coming to my rescue,” Mr Chaula told journalists shortly after his release on Monday. The case sparked an uproar in the…
ABOUT 72 hours after two journalists and their family members were abducted in the Danhonu community of Kaduna Millennium City; their whereabouts have remained unknown while their relatives continued to stay closer to their telephone hoping someone would call. This came as the Northern Elders Forum, NEF, and the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, AYCF, joined the growing list of groups and individuals condemning the abductions of the journalists and members of their families, describing their kidnap as heinous and unacceptable. In their separate statements, NEF and AYCF, called on security agencies to ensure their unconditional and immediate release. Recall that…
HAMAS says escalating Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip are not helping negotiations to end the war and has accused Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of creating obstacles to the talks. In a statement on Monday, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh warned that the “catastrophic consequences of what is happening in Gaza” could “reset the negotiation process to square one”. Netanyahu and his army will bear “full responsibility for the collapse of this path”, Hamas quoted Haniyeh as saying. The statement said Haniyeh made “urgent contact” with mediators Qatar and Egypt over the expanding actions of the Israeli military, which issued…
RUSSIA struck cities across Ukraine on Monday with a missile barrage that killed 31 people and heavily damaged a Kyiv children’s hospital in an assault condemned as a ruthless attack on civilians. Dozens of volunteers, doctors and rescue workers were digging through debris of a part of Okhmatdyt paediatric hospital in a desperate search for survivors after the rare day-time bombardment, AFP journalists on the scene saw. The first responders ran for cover when sirens and a explosion sounded after the initial strikes — a repeat attack that left four dead at a maternity hospital in a separate district of…
SENEGALESE President and West Africa’s ECOWAS “facilitator” Bassirou Diomaye Faye called Monday for dialogue and peaceful reconciliation with three countries that recently split from the bloc. The military leaders of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso broke away from the Economic Community of West African States earlier this year and formed a confederation of their own on Saturday. ECOWAS heads of state met in Abuja on Sunday and deplored the “lack of progress in interactions” with Burkinabe, Malian and Nigerien authorities, who came to power in a series of recent coups. “We cannot stand idly by”, Senegal’s President Faye said in…
US troops have completed a withdrawal from their base in Niger’s capital of Niamey and will fully depart from Agadez in the north before a September 15 deadline set by the country’s military rulers, both countries said Sunday. Niger’s military leaders scrapped a military cooperation deal with Washington in March, after seizing power in a July 2023 coup. The United States had around 650 soldiers in Niger as part of anti-jihadist missions in several Sahel nations of West Africa, including a major drone base near Agadez. “The defence ministry of Niger and the US Defence Department announce that the withdrawal…
THREE weeks down and with one week to go, Euro 2024 has reached the semi-final stage and is getting ready for two heavyweight ties as France take on Spain and England meet the Netherlands. France and Spain go head-to-head in Munich in the first last-four clash on Tuesday, which brings together the best team at the competition so far and the best European nation at each of the last two World Cups. Spain are through to a second consecutive European Championship semi-final after dramatically knocking out hosts Germany on Friday when Mikel Merino’s late header gave them a 2-1 win…
AT least 27 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza, marking another grim day as the war on the besieged territory enters its 10th month. One of the attacks since dawn on Sunday targeted a school sheltering displaced people west of Gaza city, killing at least four Palestinians. In central Gaza, the Israeli army struck a residential building in the al-Zawayda area, killing six people. The Palestine Red Crescent Society said the dead included two children. The killings came a day after the targeting of a United Nations-run school for displaced Palestinians, in which at least 16 people…
FRANCE’s Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said he would offer his resignation to President Emmanuel Macron on Monday after his party failed to win a majority in parliamentary elections. But he added that, if his resignation is refused, he was ready to remain in office “as long as duty demands”, with the Paris Olympics due to begin in three weeks. Meanwhile, an alliance of French left-wing parties was on course Sunday to become the biggest parliamentary bloc by beating the far right and President Emmanuel Macron’s coalition, according to surprise projected results. No one group won an absolute majority in the…
LIBERIAN President, Joseph Boakai, has announced a voluntary 40 per cent reduction in his salary. This was disclosed in a statement shared on the website of the Liberian Government on Saturday which said the move aligned with Boakai’s commitment to fiscal integrity and national financial security. This is coming days after some lawmakers arrived at the parliament in tricycles popularly known as ‘Keke’ in protest against the non-payment of funds for their vehicles by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning. Boakai said the announcement reflects his determination to lead by example in strengthening government accountability and demonstrating solidarity with…
PRESIDENT William Ruto of Kenya has scrapped the budget for the office of first lady after nationwide protests. Ruto announced this in a live broadcast. “Offices such as that of the First Lady have existed before, but from tomorrow we are going to do away with that and other offices so that we can check our spending,” he said. Additionally, the President confirmed that Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) positions will not be filled, following a court ruling that declared the positions unconstitutional. “On CASs, the court declared themselves on that and we have respected that. No CAS will be appointed…
ENGLAND’s quest for a first major tournament win in 58 years remained alive after another late fightback before beating Switzerland 5-3 on penalties to book their place in the Euro 2024 semi-finals. After the 120 minutes finished level at 1-1, goalkeeper Jordan Pickford was the Three Lions’ hero in the shoot-out as he saved Switzerland’s first spot-kick from Manuel Akanji. Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka, Ivan Toney and Trent Alexander-Arnold converted their penalties to send England into a semi-final meeting with Turkey or the Netherlands in Dortmund on Wednesday. After needing Bellingham’s 95th-minute equaliser before going on to beat…
AT least 16 Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli attack on a United Nations-run school sheltering displaced people in the Gaza Strip, the Gaza Government Media Office said, as Israel continues to pound the besieged coastal territory. In a statement on Saturday, the Government Media Office said more than 75 people also were injured in the attack on al-Jaouni school in central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp. “We condemn the Israeli occupation [for] committing these ongoing crimes and massacres against civilians, children and women,” it said. The Nuseirat facility, run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), is the…
BRITISH Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said he will not continue with the previous Conservative government’s policy to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, in a move welcomed by rights advocates as long overdue. “The Rwanda scheme was dead and buried before it started. It’s never been a deterrent,” Starmer told his first news conference on Saturday, after his Labour Party won a landslide in the general election. “I’m not prepared to continue with gimmicks that don’t act as a deterrent,” he told reporters after a cabinet meeting, describing the plan as a “problem that we are inheriting”. Parliament approved the…
THE military leaders of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have hailed a newly signed treaty as a step “towards greater integration” between the three countries, in the latest showing of their shift away from traditional regional and Western allies. During a summit in the Nigerien capital of Niamey on Saturday, the three leaders signed a confederation treaty that aims to strengthen a mutual defence pact announced last year, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES). The signing capped the first joint summit of the leaders – Niger’s General Abdourahmane Tchiani, Burkina Faso’s Captain Ibrahim Traore, and Mali’s Colonel Assimi Goita –…
THE willingness of Kenya’s President William Ruto to engage in a live audio discussion on X Spaces was keenly anticipated, coming just 10 days after deadly anti-government protests. The beginning, however, was cringeworthy. Participants struggled to connect. And there were three or four false starts. Finally, after a shaky first hour, someone who it was thought would be chairing a parallel conversation on X as a rival to the president’s efforts, hosted Mr Ruto’s interaction, which meant he had the power to decide who was allowed to speak. This was an X user who went by the name of Osama…
SPAIN kept themselves on course to win a fourth European Championship as Mikel Merino’s 119th-minute goal sent them into the semi-finals and eliminated hosts Germany following a pulsating encounter at Stuttgart Arena. This was the most anticipated match of the tournament so far as it put together the resurgent home nation against arguably the best-performing side to date at Euro 2024 – and it certainly lived up to expectation. Played with aggression, tension and drama the contest barely let those watching pause for breath from the moment Dani Olmo gave Spain the lead six minutes into the second half. The…
AN Israeli delegation has travelled to Qatar after a new Hamas proposal earlier this week generated renewed hope for a truce agreement, as fighting continues to rage across Gaza. The Israeli negotiators, led by spy chief David Barnea, met mediators in Doha on Friday, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. The talks were set to resume next week, the office said, when another negotiating team would be deployed to Qatar. The office added there were still “gaps between the parties” in their positions. The latest development came after Hamas on Wednesday said it had presented new “ideas” to…
IRAN’s Masoud Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon and lawmaker who has promised to reach out to the West, has won the presidential run-off by beating rival Saeed Jalili, the Ministry of Interior said. “By gaining [the] majority of the votes cast on Friday, Pezeshkian has become Iran’s next president,” the ministry said on Saturday. Pezeshkian secured 53.7 percent of the votes, or 16.3m, according to the official count. Jalili received 44.3 percent, or 13.5m. In his first public comments after the results were declared, Pezeshkian expressed gratitude to those who voted “with love and to help” the country. “We will extend…