Author: Editor

MARIA Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition politician who was barred from standing in last year’s presidential election, has been awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. In a post on the social media platform X on Friday, the Nobel Committee said it had decided to award the prize to Machado “for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy”. Announcing Machado’s win in Oslo, Jorgen Watne Frydnes, the chair of the Nobel Committee, said the award had gone “to a brave and committed…

HAMAS and allied Palestinian factions have reiterated that any decision on the future governance of Gaza is “an internal Palestinian matter” as the ceasefire in the territory takes effect. In a joint statement on Friday, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) joined Hamas in lauding the steadfastness of Palestinians, which they said foiled Israel’s plans for mass forced displacement in Gaza. “We renew our rejection to any foreign guardianship, and we stress that the nature of the administration of the Gaza Strip and its institutions are an internal Palestinian matter to be…

BURKINA Faso’s military government has refused to take in deportees from the US, as Washington suspended issuing visas in the West African nation. Foreign affairs minister Karamoko Jean-Marie Traoré questioned if the embassy’s decision was “blackmail” after he said he had rejected a US proposal to take in migrants from third countries. Donald Trump’s administration has turned to African countries as a destination to deport migrants to as part of his crackdown on immigration. The US State Department said it was committed to ending illegal and mass migration and bolstering US border security. The Department of Homeland Security have been…

RAZANOSAA Edmondine still looks shell-shocked as she recalls the death of her one-month-old grandson, killed by police tear gas in protests that have rocked Madagascar over the last two weeks. “It was just a normal Friday. My daughter-in-law was going to the market with the baby when they encountered demonstrators on the road,” she tells the BBC at the family’s home on the northern outskirts of the capital, Antananarivo. “Not long after, police showed up and started dispersing the protest with tear gas.” It was the second day of youth-led protests, triggered by anger over persistent power and water shortages,…

ISRAEL’s government has approved “phase one” of a ceasefire agreement, which will see captives exchanged and Israel withdraw from parts of Gaza, but details of how it fits into a wider plan to bring lasting peace remain unclear. Khalil al-Hayya, the head of Hamas’s negotiating team, said the group has received guarantees from the US and mediators that an agreement on a first phase of the ceasefire agreement means the war in Gaza “has ended completely”. The vote early on Friday paves the way for a suspension of hostilities in Gaza within 24 hours, and the release of 48 Israeli…

NEW York Attorney General Letitia James, who successfully prosecuted President Donald Trump, was indicted on Thursday. The indictment was handed down by a federal grand jury in Virginia, where charges were also recently brought against another Trump foe, former FBI director James Comey. According to CNN and other US media outlets, the indictment of the 66-year-old James, a Democrat, is for mortgage fraud and concerns a property she helped her niece buy in Virginia in 2023. The cases against James and Comey were filed by the Republican president’s handpicked US attorney, Lindsey Halligan, after the previous prosecutor resigned, saying there…

A SOUTH African farm worker has described to a court how he was forced by his boss to feed the bodies of two black women to pigs in an attempt to hide evidence after they were shot. Adrian De Wet, 21, said he was told to throw the bodies inside a pig enclosure, explaining that “when pigs are hungry enough, they’ll eat anything”. He admitted opening fire on the two women with his boss, farm owner Zachariah Johannes Olivier – before he ordered him to help dispose of their bodies. Mr Olivier and another man, William Musora, are accused of…

SECURITY forces in Madagascar have fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the latest youth-led protest following two weeks of anti-government demonstrations that have rocked the Indian Ocean island. At least 1,000 protesters marched through Madagascar’s capital on Thursday, some hurling objects at security personnel. The movement behind the protest, known as Gen Z Mada, rejected President Andry Rajoelina’s offer to attend talks on Wednesday, demanding once again that he resign. The group argued they could not engage with a government that has been repressing them as they demand basic human rights. Security forces “charged at protesters with armoured…

AL-NASSR’s Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo, whose name has become synonymous with football greatness, has reached a milestone no player in history has achieved: billionaire status. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Ronaldo’s net worth now stands at $1.4 billion, a testament not only to his unrivaled exploits on the pitch but also to his business acumen and global brand power. Ronaldo’s record-breaking wealth was propelled by a lucrative June 2025 contract extension with Saudi Pro League club Al-Nassr, keeping him in Riyadh until at least 2027. The deal, reportedly exceeding $400 million, includes a staggering annual salary of around $200…

A WORLD Health Organization (WHO) representative in Gaza has described harrowing scenes amid efforts to supply hospitals, many decimated or fully destroyed by Israel’s genocidal war, with essential medical and humanitarian supplies. “When we were in Gaza City two days back to al-Ahli Hospital bringing in the most needed trauma supplies – IV fluids, saline, IV antibiotics, also some lab equipment and food for patients and staff etc – bombardments were all over the place where we were,” Rik Peeperkorn, WHO’s representative for the occupied Palestinian territory, told a media briefing on Wednesday. “We saw a constant stream of trauma…

FORMER FBI director James Comey arrived at a federal courthouse on Wednesday to face felony charges in a case widely seen as an escalation of President Donald Trump’s campaign of legal retribution against political opponents. Comey, 64, a prominent critic of the president, was indicted by a grand jury in Virginia last month on charges of making false statements to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding. His arraignment, during which he is expected to plead not guilty, is being held at a federal courthouse in Alexandria before District Judge Michael Nachmanoff. A few protestors gathered outside the court ahead of…

ETHIOPIA has accused Eritrea of preparing to wage war against it in collusion with an opposition grouping, in the latest sign of escalating tensions between the two neighbours over control of the Red Sea. Ethiopia’s accusation is contained in a letter sent by its Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos to UN chief Antonio Guterres, warning that the collusion had become “more evident over the past few months”. Eritrea has not yet commented on the letter, but its relationship with Ethiopia has become increasingly strained in recent months. Ethiopia has been rallying support to regain access to the Red Sea, causing alarm…

BURKINA Faso’s military government says it has arrested eight members of a Dutch-based humanitarian organisation, accusing them of “spying and treason”. They are three Europeans, a Malian, and four Burkinabé – among them the NGO’s country director and deputy. The organisation said they were detained some time ago but it was not previously reported. Security Minister Mahamadou Sana said the NGO had “collected and passed on sensitive security information that could be detrimental to national security and the interests of Burkina Faso, to foreign powers”. The International NGO Safety Organisation (INSO), which provides safety information to aid workers, has “categorically”…

FORMER England captain and Liverpool legend, Steven Gerrard, has launched a scathing critique of his generation of England stars, describing them as “egotistical losers” who failed to achieve their potential due to club rivalries, inflated egos, and lack of team unity. Gerrard, 45, who earned 114 international caps and played under five full-time managers across six major tournaments, admitted that despite the immense talent in the squad, the so-called Golden Generation, which included stars like David Beckham, Frank Lampard, Paul Scholes, Rio Ferdinand, and John Terry, never became a cohesive unit. “We were all egotistical losers,” Gerrard said bluntly while…

HAMAS and Israel have concluded a second day of indirect negotiations on United States President Donald Trump’s proposal to end the war on Gaza, as senior Qatari and US officials headed to Egypt to join the talks. Speaking at the White House on the second anniversary of the start of the war, Trump said that there was a “real chance” of a Gaza deal, as Tuesday’s talks wrapped up in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh. However, the day had opened with an umbrella of Palestinian factions – including Hamas issuing a statement that promised a “resistance stance by…

BRITON John Clarke, Frenchman Michel Devoret, and American John Martinis won the Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for work on quantum physics in action, the Nobel jury said. The trio was honoured “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit,” the jury said. Quantum mechanics describes how differently things work on incredibly small scales. For example, when a normal ball hits a wall, it bounces back. But on the quantum scale, a particle will actually pass straight through a comparable wall — a phenomenon called “tunnelling”. Tuesday’s prize was awarded for experiments…

CAMEROON’s President Paul Biya on Monday made his first major appearance of the election campaign in his run for an eighth straight term as the world’s oldest head of state. With five days to go before the vote, Biya, aged 92, and in power since 1982 — addressed supporters at a stadium in Maroua, in the Far North region, AFP journalists saw. It was his first public appearance since May of this year. “My determination to serve you remains intact,” he told the crowd of several hundred supporters from the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement. “I ask you once again…

THE mother of missing former Tanzanian diplomat Humphrey Polepole has made an emotional appeal for police to help bring him home. “If he is alive, return him to me. If he is not, bring his body and let me bury my child myself. They should not go and throw him into the sea,” Annamary Polepole said, in an interview with the BBC about her son’s disappearance. The ex-ambassador to Cuba, who had become an outspoken critic of the government, was abducted from his home in Tanzania’s main city Dar es Salaam in the early hours of Monday, according to his…

MOHAMED Salah is Liverpool’s “Egyptian King”, but the forward’s crown has lost a little of its lustre during a disappointing spell in which his work ethic has come under fire. Salah was below his best again in Liverpool’s damaging 2-1 defeat at Chelsea on Saturday as he wasted several chances and failed to help out in defence. He has been absent from the scoresheet in five of Liverpool’s seven Premier League games this season and the champions have suffered as a result. The loss at Stamford Bridge was Liverpool’s third in eight days as Arsenal leapfrogged them to the top…

NEGOTIATORS from Hamas and Israel have begun indirect talks in Egypt on US President Donald Trump’s proposal to end the war on Gaza. Al-Qahera News, which is linked to Egyptian state intelligence, said on Monday the delegations that gathered in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh “are discussing preparing ground conditions for the release of detainees and prisoners”, in line with the US plan. “Egyptian and Qatari mediators are working with both sides to establish a mechanism” for the exchange, it added. The talks, which come on the eve of the second anniversary of the Hamas attacks on Israel…