Author: Editor

KING Charles III will travel to France for a state historic visit in September, a French newspaper has reported, six months after a scheduled trip was cancelled because of violent protests. The planned journey, intended to highlight warming Franco-British relations, had been postponed in March at the last minute as angry mass protests against pension reform shook France. At the weekend the regional daily Sud-Ouest said that the state visit would now take place in September, and that the monarch and Queen Consort Camilla would visit Paris and Bordeaux in the southwest as originally planned. The approximate dates are September…

A SUSPECTED air strike in Ethiopia’s Amhara region has killed at least 26 people, a hospital official said. The strike in Finote Selam on Sunday was among the most deadly in the region, where the army has been fighting Fano, a paramilitary force. Ethiopia’s human rights commission has expressed “grave concern” over the “deadly hostilities”. PM Abiy Ahmed’s government imposed a six-month state of emergency across Amhara on 4 August. The fighting has been fuelled by Fano accusations that the federal government is trying to weaken Amhara’s defences. It is Ethiopia’s worst crisis since a civil war in the northern…

OPPOSITION lawmakers in Ghana have expressed concern over the Ecowas plans to potentially launch military action in Niger as part of efforts to restore constitutional order in the country. The lawmakers are demanding Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo to immediately stop all preparatory mobilisation towards deploying Ghanaian soldiers. “The Ghanaian Parliament has not discussed this matter unlike other countries who have had the opportunity to debate these matters and to pass a resolution,” Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, a member of parliament’s foreign affairs committee told the BBC. “He [President Akufo-Addo] doesn’t have a mandate from the Ghanaian people in this matter… We…

THE National Board for Technical Education has unveiled an online top-up programme for Higher National Diploma holders to convert their certification to Bachelor’s Degree through online top-up for one year, with foreign accredited universities. The board disclosed this in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja on Monday by its Head of Media Unit, Mrs Fatima Abubakar. Abubakar said this was also to facilitate the progression of HND holders to higher degrees. “Attempts in the past to get the National Universities Commission to approve a two-year Master of Technology for HND holders in some polytechnics did not see the…

CHELSEA have agreed a deal to sign Brighton midfielder Moises Caicedo for a British record fee of £115m. Liverpool agreed a £111m deal for the 21-year-old Ecuador player on Friday. But Caicedo’s preference is Chelsea and they have finally succeeded with a bid after having a succession of proposals rejected by Brighton this summer. The fee means Chelsea will break the British record twice in 2023, following the £107m purchase in January of Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez. Caicedo, who was left out of Brighton’s squad for their season-opening win at home to Luton Town, is still to have a medical.…

ERIK ten Hag says Harry Maguire would be better off leaving Manchester United if he is not confident enough to battle for a first-team spot. The United boss is adamant he thinks Maguire can be an important part of his plans. However, after Ten Hag took the captaincy off the 30-year-old, United then accepted a £30m bid from West Ham for him. “He has the ability to be a top-class centre-back,” said Ten Hag. “He is the best for England so why shouldn’t he be the best for us? “But he has to prove it. When he is not confident…

THOUSANDS of pieces of unexploded ordnance left over from Cambodia’s civil war have been unearthed inside a school in the country’s northeast, authorities said Sunday. Decades after the brutal conflict and a US bombing campaign starting in the 1960s, the country remains among the most heavily bombed and mined in the world. Deminers discovered more than 2,000 explosives, including more than 1,000 M79 grenades, inside the grounds of a high school in Kratie province over three days, said Heng Ratana, director general of the Cambodian Mine Action Centre. He told AFP the explosive remnants were found after the school cleared…

ELON Musk “isn’t serious” about holding a cage fight and “it’s time to move on”, Mark Zuckerberg has said. In a post on his social media site Threads, the Meta boss said he had offered Mr Musk “a real date” but the rival entrepreneur had made excuses. Mr Musk had earlier on Sunday suggested on his own messaging site X, formerly known as Twitter, that he was willing to fight as early as Monday. The billionaires agreed to the bout in June, sparking huge media attention. But despite egging each other on for months, the rivals have yet to secure…

A MANHUNT has been launched in South Africa after a mass shooting in which six people died, police say. Four suspects allegedly shot the victims in Umlazi, KwaZulu-Natal, before midnight on Friday, initial information suggests. One of the suspects believed that one of the victims had his ID, dropped accidentally during a previous murder he was wanted for. South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world. It is thought the suspects shot two people inside the house, a third in a backroom and a fourth next to an outside toilet, a police statement says. The suspects…

IT was a funeral no one had envisaged: Sadig Abbas’ lifeless body was lowered hastily into a shallow unmarked grave in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, not long after dawn. Even the few family members and neighbours who could attend were distracted, scouring the cemetery’s surroundings for warnings of incoming fire, recounted Awad el-Zubeer, a neighbor of the deceased. Thankfully, none came. Nearly four months of violent street battles between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have made funerals a near impossibility in Khartoum. Amid the chaos, residents and local medical groups say corpses lie…

FORMER world champion Anthony Joshua needed seven rounds to stop stand-in opponent Robert Helenius in the seventh round of their heavyweight bout on Saturday. Helenius was only drafted in after fighting in Finland last weekend when Dillian Whyte was ruled out of what would have been an all-British clash following “adverse analytical findings” in a doping test. The 39-year-old Helenius, who entered the ring with 32 wins and four defeats from his 36 professional bouts, was knocked out in the first round by Deontay Wilder in October. He avoided a repeat of that embarrassing reverse on Saturday although, with Joshua…

ARSENAL began their Premier League title challenge by beating Nottingham Forest 2-1 on Saturday as Alexander Isak scored twice in Newcastle’s 5-1 thrashing of Aston Villa. After finishing second to Manchester City last season, Arsenal have splashed over £200 million ($254 million) on new signings to try and claim their first title for 20 years. Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber all made their debuts at the Emirates and the Gunners should have had a far more convincing scoreline to show for their performance. Eddie Nketiah opened the scoring after some sublime skill by Gabriel Martinelli opened up the…

THE United States has returned more than 250 ancient artefacts to Italy after police discovered that they had been stolen. The art unit of Italy’s police force found the items had been looted and sold to US museums and private collectors in the 1990s. Among the precious artefacts include pots, paintings and sculptures – some up to 3,000 years old. Several of the mosaics are worth tens of millions of euros. The oldest item dates back to the Villanovan age (1000 – 750BC), while other artefacts were from the Etruscan civilisation (800 – 200BC), Magna Graecia (750 – 400BC) and…

HAWAII’s governor says he expects to see “significantly higher numbers” of fatalities in the coming days, as the death toll rises to 102. Additional expert support has been deployed to the island of Maui, where forensic work is continuing to find victims of the devastating wildfires. Hundreds of people are still unaccounted for days after the fires first broke out. Many more remain in emergency shelters after fleeing from the flames. While the wildfires are now largely under control, efforts to fully extinguish them are continuing in parts of the island, including around the historic town of Lahaina, which has…

SOUTH Africa’s former President Jacob Zuma has been spared from returning to prison, with officials saying this is to ease overcrowding. Zuma, who was sentenced to 15 months for contempt of court, surrendered himself to the authorities on Friday. The 81-year-old had previously been freed on medical parole – in a move ruled illegal by the courts. Justice Minister Ronald Lamola said he had been given remission to address overcrowding in prisons. Zuma is one of more than 9,000 low-risk prisoners released under a scheme which began in April to make space in South Africa’s jails, official say. Mr Lamola…

KNOWN for his tailored suits and designer jewellery, Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader Nelson Chamisa can work a crowd with all the drama of the Pentecostal preacher that he is. He will now put that charisma to the test in the general election on 23 August when he will once again face President Emmerson Mnangagwa after losing to him in a disputed poll in 2018. Mr Chamisa will run for the presidency under the banner of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), the party he formed last year after he was thrown out of what used to be the main opposition…

MANCHESTER United will consult with their women’s team before announcing a decision about Mason Greenwood’s future at the club. An announcement was expected before Monday’s Premier League opener against Wolves but that has now been delayed. Charges against forward Greenwood, including attempted rape and assault, were dropped on 2 February. Earlier on Friday, a group of female United fans said they would protest against his potential reintegration. Female Fans Against Greenwood’s Return – who plan to protest outside Old Trafford before Monday’s match – want the club to “demonstrate a zero tolerance approach” towards violence against women. BBC Sport contacted…

ERLING Haaland was back in the old routine with a devastating display of finishing as Manchester City opened the defence of their Premier League title with a comfortable victory at Burnley. The goalscoring phenomenon, who hit 52 goals as City won the Treble of Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League last season, took only 185 seconds to open his account for the new campaign, striking a blow from which the newly promoted Clarets never recovered. Haaland pounced in the area when Rodri headed down Kevin de Bruyne’s cross, then curled in a magnificent left-foot strike into the top corner…

THE Hawaii wildfires have reached a grim milestone as the death toll rose to 67, making it the deadliest natural disaster in the state’s history. Hundreds more have been reported missing and the toll may still rise. It comes as some Lahaina residents are being allowed to briefly return home on Friday to take stock of the damage to their fire-ravaged town. They returned amid warnings they would be greeted by “destruction like they’ve not ever seen in their lives”. State officials reopened Lahaina to people with proof of residency on Friday for the first time since flames swept rapidly…

THE US Justice Department on Friday escalated its investigation into President Joe Biden’s son Hunter, naming a special counsel amid allegations of tax fraud and illicit overseas business deals. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed prosecutor David Weiss, who has been investigating Hunter Biden since 2019 on low-level tax and gun charges. The announcement came just as Weiss told the federal court in Delaware that a plea deal struck with Biden in June was no longer valid, indicating that he could move to file felony tax charges against the president’s son in other jurisdictions. Garland said Weiss, who was originally appointed…