Author: Editor

A FORMER CIA officer has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for leaking a trove of classified hacking tools to whistle-blowing platform Wikileaks. Joshua Schulte was also found guilty of possessing child abuse images. Prosecutors have accused him of leaking the CIA’s “Vault 7” tools, which allow intelligence officers to hack smartphones and use them as listening devices. They said the leak is one of the most “brazen” in US history. Schulte, 35, shared some 8,761 documents to Wikileaks in 2017, amounting to the largest data breach in the history of the CIA, the US justice department said. He…

A HUGE gas blast in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, has killed at least two people and injured at least 222. A lorry carrying gas exploded in Embakasi district around 23:30 (20:30 GMT), “igniting a huge ball of fire”, a government spokesperson said. Housing, businesses and cars were damaged with video showing a huge blaze raging close to blocks of flats. Earlier, the government had said the blast happened at a gas plant. The cause is still being established. Mr Mwaura said the fireball from the blast had “spread widely”, and a flying gas cylinder had hit a garments and textiles…

FRENCH nationals will no longer be allowed to fly into Niger, airline sources said Thursday. “According to the Nigerien authorities, any passenger of French nationality is no longer authorised to enter Nigerien territory,” said an internal Air Burkina note seen by AFP. “As a consequence they will not be accepted aboard our flights” to the capital Niamey, it added. Royal Air Maroc has also decided to follow the new rule, except for “special authorisations”, said a source close to the company. Numerous other airlines who fly to Niamey including Ethiopian Airlines, Air Tunisie and Turkish Airlines did not respond immediately…

WITH nearly 10 million deaths and nearly 20 million new cases in 2022, cancer remains one of the world’s biggest killers, according to a report on Thursday by the World Health Organisation. Here are five key facts about the disease ahead of World Cancer Day on Sunday: One In Five People Cancer — a disease that causes abnormal cells to multiply and spread — affects humans and virtually all other animal species, with traces found in human skeletons dating from prehistoric times. There are more than 100 types of cancer, each with its own diagnosis and treatment. Around one in…

THE napkin on which 13-year-old Lionel Messi’s first Barcelona contract was signed is to be auctioned – with a starting price of £300,000. The napkin, signed in December 2000, carries a commitment from then Barca director Carles Rexach to sign Messi. It was also signed by Josep Minguella, a transfer advisor to the Spanish club, and agent Horacio Gaggioli, who recommended the Argentine. Messi joined Barca a month later and went on to be their record goalscorer. He made his debut aged 16 and scored 672 goals in 778 games for the Catalan club. Now 36, Messi won 10 La…

RED Crescent Society reports Israeli forces “firing heavily” in a raid on al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis; Nasser and al-Amal hospitals under Israeli military siege for days. “We’ve lost a health clinic, major shelters – facilities that were supporting the people of Khan Younis,” says Thomas White, UNRWA’s director of Gaza affairs, as staff join thousands fleeing the city in southern Gaza. Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour tells UN Security Council that for the ICJ’s “provisional measures to be implemented, there must be a ceasefire in Gaza”. At least 26,900 people have been killed and 65,949 wounded in Israeli attacks on…

THE Houthi movement in Yemen says it has struck a US merchant ship in the Red Sea in a fresh attack targeting commercial shipping. It named the ship as the KOI, which it said was US-operated. Maritime security firm Ambrey said a vessel operating south of Yemen’s port of Aden had reported an explosion on board but it did not name the ship. Meanwhile, the US has launched new air strikes in Yemen, targeting 10 drones reportedly being set up to launch. According to Reuters news agency, the KOI is a Liberian-flagged container ship operated by UK-based Oceonix Services. The…

A KENYAN opposition leader has accused President William Ruto of planning to defy a court ruling against the deployment of police to Haiti. Ekuru Aukot, who last week successfully challenged the planned deployment in court, says the president can only deploy the army and not the police. The court said the mission was illegal. Mr Ruto said on Tuesday the mission could go ahead “as soon as next week” if all the paperwork was done to satisfy the demands of the court. Last November, the Kenyan parliament ratified the deployment of 1,000 officers to lead a multinational force in Haiti,…

CAMEROONIAN socialite Hervé Bopda has been arrested after abuse allegations against him prompted national outrage. Earlier this month, Mr Bopda and his acquaintances were accused by a popular activist of committing a number of crimes against roughly 200 victims. Dozens of social media users have subsequently posted fresh allegations of sexual and physical abuse, many using the hashtag #stopbopda. Mr Bopda, known for his jet-setting lifestyle, has denied all wrongdoing. On Wednesday, after Mr Bopda was arrested, his lawyer said the accusations were “scandalous”. Speaking to the BBC, Mr Ojong Ashu acknowledged that the recent slew of abuse allegations prompted…

MORE than half of Gaza’s buildings have been damaged or destroyed since Israel launched its retaliation for the Hamas attacks of 7 October, new analysis seen by the BBC reveals. Detailed before-and-after imagery also shows how the bombardment of southern and central Gaza has intensified since the start of December, with the city of Khan Younis bearing much of the brunt of Israel’s military action. Israel has repeatedly told Gazans to move south for their own safety. Across Gaza, residential areas have been left ruined, previously busy shopping streets reduced to rubble, universities destroyed and farmlands churned up, with tent…

FORMER Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison, less than two weeks before the country votes in an election his party has been hamstrung from contesting. Khan’s sentence was handed down inside Adiala jail, where he has been confined for much of the time since his August arrest and buried under an avalanche of court cases he says have been orchestrated to prevent his return to office. The same sentence was handed down on Shah Mehmood Qureshi, vice-president of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party who served as foreign minister under Khan. “Former prime minister…

KENYA’s President William Ruto was celebrated last year when he announced his country would be going visa-free for African visitors, but many have been surprised by the new requirements, which have introduced fresh costs and paperwork for some. Adio, a Zimbabwean citizen living in Germany, was not anticipating any issues at Bremen airport when he arrived for his flight to Kenya earlier this month. But at the check-in desk he was asked to show a document saying he had permission to enter Kenya. “We had a short argument at the counter. I insisted I didn’t need one,” said the 33-year-old…

ZIMBABWE opposition politician and former MP Job Sikhala is finally a free man after a record 595 days on pre-trial remand. A Harare magistrate has sentenced Sikhala and his co-accused, MP Godfrey Sithole, to a two-year, wholly suspended term for five years. Sithole was granted bail after five months on remand. They were both convicted of inciting public violence. Sikhala’s lawyers say they will appeal against the conviction at the High Court. He was arrested in June 2022 and charged with encouraging the violence that followed the discovery of the dismembered body of Citizens’ Coalition for Change (CCC) activist Moreblessing…

THIS morning, (Tuesday) a worrying fake news broke out that the newly inaugurated Governor of Kogi State, Usman Ododo had approved the establishment of the “Office of the Immediate Past Governor” in the state. According to the ‘sponsored fake news’ the ‘Office of the Immediate Past Governor’ will be domiciled in the Kogi state Governor’s office and the Immediate Past Governor of the state will operate the office daily. The  story, if we can even call it that in the context of media relevance, added that, newly established office will make the immediate past Governor of Kogi state, Yahaya Bello…

ARSENAL boss Mikel Arteta says reports linking him with succeeding Xavi as Barcelona manager are “totally untrue”. Xavi announced on Saturday that he would be stepping down from the role at the end of the season. Spanish newspaper Sport said Arteta, who is a product of Barcelona’s youth academy, was also thinking of leaving his post with the Gunners. “Who, me? No. That is totally fake news,” said Arteta, whose Arsenal contract runs until the summer of 2025. “What you read, I’m really upset about it. I couldn’t believe it. It has no sources. “I’m in the right place with…

QATAR’s prime minister has said “good progress” was made during a meeting between intelligence officials from Egypt, Israel and the United States over the weekend to discuss a possible deal to secure a truce in the Israel-Hamas war and the release of captives held by Palestinian groups in Gaza. Spy chiefs from the three countries, which have been leading negotiations on agreements to pause fighting since the start of the war on October 7, met over the weekend in the French capital Paris. The sides discussed a potential deal that would include a phased truce that would see women and…

IRAN denied Monday any links to a drone strike in Jordan that killed three US military personnel and said it was not seeking an “expansion” of conflict in the Middle East. The killing of three American troops on Sunday in a strike in Jordan marked the first US military losses in the region since the Israel-Hamas war began. US President Joe Biden said “radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq” were behind the strike on the frontier base in Jordan’s northeast. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron reiterated a call for Iran “to de-escalate in the region”. Iran lambasted…

SOUTH Africa’s former President Jacob Zuma has been suspended from the party he once led, after refusing to vote for it and launching a rival organisation. The governing African National Congress (ANC) announced its decision on Monday. “Zuma and others whose conduct is in conflict with our values and principles, will find themselves outside the African National Congress,” said Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula. Mr Zuma’s nine years as president, from 2009, were dogged by scandal. An official inquiry said the former president placed the interests of corrupt associates ahead of those of his country, in a process known as “state capture”.…

MORE than 50 people, including United Nations peacekeepers, have been killed in attacks in an area disputed between South Sudan and Sudan, the United Nations has said. It is the deadliest incident in a three-year-long spate of clashes in oil-rich region of Abyei. Two armed groups raided Abyei on Saturday, local authorities said. The day after, peacekeepers came under fire when transporting affected civilians to hospital, the UN said. South Sudan and Sudan jointly administer Abyei, and both claim ownership to the region in a dispute that has remained unresolved since the South’s independence in 2011. The fighting at the…

CHIEF of Air Staff, Air Marshal Hassan Bala Abubakar, has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to settle outstanding bills of some services rendered to the electoral commission. Abubakar made the call on Monday in Abuja when he hosted a delegation of INEC management, led by the commission’s Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who visited the Air Force Headquarters in Abuja. “I would like to seize this opportunity to remind the Chairman that there are some outstanding bills which are yet to be cleared by INEC. The settlement of those bills will enable us to serve you better,” the Air…