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BEEKEEPERS Michael Barber woke up on Wednesday morning to several calls from police looking for help after five million bees fell off a truck in Canada. The hives were being transported when the straps holding them in place came loose, allowing them to slip free. Mr Barber said he arrived to “a pretty crazy cloud of bees” who were “very angry, confused and homeless”. Drivers were told to keep their windows up and pedestrians to stay away. The scene in Burlington, Ontario was unlike anything Mr Barber has experienced in his 11-year career. “It was something else,” he told the…

THE United States is closely watching the situation in Gabon following a military coup, the latest in a series of undemocratic power seizures in Africa, the White House said Wednesday. “It’s deeply concerning. We were going to watch this closely, and we’re going to continue to do everything we can to support the idea of democratic ideals that are expressed by the African people,” said White House national security spokesman John Kirby. “It’s too soon to call this a trend,” Kirby said of the several coups in the past year. However, he said, “It’s obviously deeply concerning here, yet another…

THE UN and a host of humanitarian agencies are calling on the West African regional bloc, Ecowas, to grant exemptions to the sanctions imposed on Niger in the wake of the coup as they are threatening the health of some of the people. “There is no way to bring humanitarian aid into the country,” Emmanuel Gignac, the UN refugee agency representative for Niger, is quoted by the Reuters news agency as saying. “The immediate goods (affected) is going to be food and then it’s going to be access to medicine, to drugs.” He painted a picture of a possible worsening…

ONE of the sons of Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba has been arrested for “treason”. The ousted president has also been placed under house arrest alongside some of his family members. “President Ali Bongo is under house arrest, surrounded by his family and doctors,” they said in a statement read out on state TV. The coupists struck in the early hours of Wednesday, annulling Saturday’s election, which Bongo was declared to have won. More details later…

NIGERIA’s duo David Ojih and Prestige Archibong emerged champions of the U-19 and U-15 categories of the Winifred Awosika African Youth Scrabble Championship, which featured players from Kenya, Liberia, Ghana, Uganda and host, Nigeria. David clinched the U-19 championship after four days of 24 rounds of intensive mind games, in which he won 19 and lost five games with a cumulative score spread of plus 2022 at Chrislands School in Lekki, Lagos. Another Nigerian Joy Ola came second with 28 wins and a cumulative score of plus 1097 ahead of compatriot Lateef Musa, who recorded 17 victories and cumulative points…

MANCHESTER City’s Erling Haaland has won the PFA men’s players’ player of the year award, with Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka named young player of the year. Norway forward Haaland, 23, scored 52 goals in all competitions in his debut season with Pep Guardiola’s side. Haaland beat team-mates Kevin de Bruyne and John Stones, Arsenal’s Saka and Martin Odegaard and Tottenham’s Harry Kane, now at Bayern Munich. City won the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League Treble last season. “It’s an honour to win this prestigious award,” said Haaland. “To be recognised by your competitors is a great feeling and I…

RUSSIAN mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was killed in a plane crash two months after staging a short-lived mutiny, was on Tuesday laid to rest in a secret ceremony in his native Saint Petersburg. He was believed to have been buried at the Porokhovskoye cemetery amid heightened security after his firm said a private ceremony had been held for the warlord “in a closed setting”. The cemetery was cordoned off and access was restricted, but an AFP photographer saw the back of what appeared to be Prigozhin’s fresh grave, which was marked by a wooden cross. At the burial site,…

PAUL Whelan, an American convicted of espionage in Russia who has always called himself a political hostage, has been seen in video footage for the first time in three years. Arrested in 2018 in Moscow, where he had travelled for a friend’s wedding, the former US marine was handed a 16-year sentence after a closed trial. The US government designates Mr Whelan as “wrongfully detained”. The video was filmed at a labour camp by Kremlin-backed channel RT. However, Mr Whelan refused to give an interview. For his family, in the US and Canada, it’s a first glimpse of him since…

AT least 183 people have been killed since July in clashes in Ethiopia’s Amhara region, the United Nations said Tuesday as it appealed for the killings, violence and rights abuses to end. Tension in the northern region ratcheted up this year after the end of a devastating war in the neighbouring region of Tigray that also drew in fighters from Amhara. “We are very concerned by the deteriorating human rights situation in some regions of Ethiopia,” UN Human Rights Office spokeswoman Marta Hurtado told reporters in Geneva. “In Amhara region, following a flare-up in clashes between the Ethiopian military and…

ZIMBABWE’s main opposition on Tuesday called for fresh elections after its presidential candidate lost to incumbent Emmerson Mnangagwa in a vote it lashed as flawed and illegal. The Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) urged the African Union (AU) and southern Africa’s regional bloc to help mediate a solution to the crisis that followed last Wednesday’s vote. “Zimbabwe needs a fresh and broad and proper election to exit the current crisis,” the CCC’s deputy spokesman Ostallos Siziba told a press conference in Harare. Mnangagwa, 80, won a second term with 52.6 percent against 44 percent for the CCC’s Nelson Chamisa, 45,…

ROBERTO Mancini said he hoped to lead Saudi Arabia to Asian Cup victory within months as he signed a multi-million dollar deal on Monday, just a fortnight after quitting as Italy coach. The former Inter Milan and Manchester City boss held up a green shirt that read “Mancini 2027” after inking a contract to stay with the Green Falcons beyond the next World Cup. Mancini, who has denied that he made his shock Italy exit was in order to move to the oil-rich Gulf monarchy, is reported to have been offered more than $25 million to join the big-spending Saudis.…

IRAQ has hanged three people convicted of involvement in a vehicle bombing in Baghdad that killed more than 300 people and injured hundreds in 2016. It was the deadliest single bombing in Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003. The Islamic State group (IS) said it had carried out the attack. Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s office did not name those executed or say when they had been sentenced. The executions were carried out on Sunday and Monday, it said. A government source told AFP news agency that Ghazwan al-Zawbaee, held to be the IS mastermind behind the attack, was…

A MONSTER forest fire that has raged for nine days in the Dadia National Park in northeast Greece, a major European sanctuary for birds of prey, is still spreading, firefighters said Monday. “The fire is still out of control,” a spokesman for the fire service told AFP, adding that “nearly 500 firefighters backed by 100 vehicles, seven planes and three helicopters are fighting the flames.” The fire is burning across a nearly 10-kilometre (six-mile) front, according to firefighters. The blaze, which erupted on August 19, is devastating the Evros region near the port city of Alexandroupoli and the border with…

THE Network of Human Rights Defenders in Central Africa (Redhac) says the internet shutdown and curfew imposed by the authorities in Gabon raise serious concerns about the transparency of Saturday’s general election. The rights group’s head, Maximilienne Ngo Mbe, said the security restrictions suggested that “the elections are being rigged” and she fears there’s a plot to sow further “chaos”. Gabon’s electoral body is compiling the results from Saturday’s presidential, legislative and local elections, and it’s not yet clear when the outcome will be announced. The polls were marred by delays and complaints of fraud by the opposition. Foreign observers…

THE head of Sudan’s army and the country’s de facto president has responded to a statement by his rival in the country’s conflict that he is open to a long-term ceasefire, saying that “we don’t strike deals with traitors”. Earlier, the leader of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who’s known as Hemedti, said any settlement must set the country on the path to full civilian rule. He also called for an end to state-orchestrated attacks on civilians. Sudanese pro-democracy activists have dismissed Hemedti’s earlier comments as highly hypocritical, seeing as he has played a key role…

THE Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has decried unacceptable post-operation complications among six patients who underwent cataract surgeries at the National Eye Centre, Kaduna. In a statement issued by Tashikalmah Hallah, Special Assistant to the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare on Media and External Relations, the Minister, Prof Muhammad Ali Pate explained that all patients deserve good quality health care in all health facilities and directed an investigation into the cases. The Minister added that the Federal government places a high premium on clinical governance to improve the quality of health care in Nigeria’s health system.…

FRANCE’s ambassador to Niger Republic is still in the coup-hit Sahel country despite an ultimatum from the new army leaders to leave his post, French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday. During a major foreign policy speech to ambassadors gathered in Paris, Macron confirmed that French envoy Sylvain Itte was listening in from Niger’s capital Niamey despite being given a 48-hour deadline to leave the country last Friday. “France and its diplomats have faced particularly difficult situations in some countries in recent months, from Sudan, where France has been exemplary, to Niger at this very moment and I applaud your colleague…

GHANAIAN side Medeama have defeated Remo Stars via penalties to reach the next round of the CAF Champions League. While Medeama saw off the Nigerian team 1-0 in the first-leg game in Ghana, Remo Stars won the return fixture by the same margin in the preliminary round of the tournament. That left both sides heading to the spot to decide who advance to the next phase of Africa’s elite club competition. But Medeama emerged winners, claiming a 3-2 victory to silence the home fans at the Remo Stars Stadium, Ikenne-Remo, Ogun State on Sunday evening. Medeama goalkeeper Felix Kyei was…

VICTOR Osimhen scored his 100th club goal as Napoli continued a perfect start to their Serie A title defence with Sunday’s 2-0 win over 10-man Sassuolo, while Juventus survived penalty controversy in a 1-1 draw with furious Bologna. Osimhen netted his third goal of the season from the penalty spot 15 minutes into Napoli’s first home match since lifting the league title in front of their fans for the third time back in June. And Captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo made sure Napoli would make it six points from six in the 64th minute, not long after Maxime Lopez was sent…

STUDENTS will be banned from wearing abaya, a loose-fitting full-length robe worn by some Muslim women, in France’s state-run schools, the education minister has said. The rule will be applied as soon as the new school year starts on 4 September. France has a strict ban on religious signs in state schools and government buildings, arguing that they violate secular laws. Wearing a headscarf has been banned since 2004 in state-run schools. “When you walk into a classroom, you shouldn’t be able to identify the pupils’ religion just by looking at them,” Education Minister Gabriel Attal told France’s TF1 TV,…