Author: Editor

A BODY was found in central Johannesburg early Thursday after an unexplained blast ripped through a busy street at rush hour the previous evening, the emergency services said. The explosion blew a hole in the road and gouged out cracks, skittling pedestrians and cars. “(In the) early hours of this morning, we managed to recover a body of a male person on site where the explosion occurred,” Emergency Management Services spokesman Robert Mulaudzi said. Panyaza Lesufi, the premier of Johannesburg’s Gauteng province, told a media briefing that 48 people were injured. Witnesses reported chemical odours and escaping vapours after the…

A MILLION more people could be facing hunger in Burkina Faso in the next few months as the lack of security in parts of the country continues to have an impact, the NGO International Rescue Committee (IRC) has warned. Currently an estimated 2.2 million people – one in 10 of the population – are experiencing hunger, but the IRC says that that figure could reach 3.3 million by September. As a result of a militant Islamist insurgency parts of the country are almost entirely cut off – food supplies rarely get through and health facilities are closing. The IRC has…

IF Bayern Munich’s first game of pre-season is anything to go by they might not need Tottenham striker Harry Kane – having beaten Rottach-Egern 27-0. Thirteen players got on the score sheet, with Jamal Musiala, Mathys Tel and Marcel Sabitzer grabbing five each. Sabitzer, who was on loan at Manchester United last season, scored his five goals in 22 second-half minutes. It was 18-0 at half-time before amateur side Rottach-Egern limited Bayern to nine goals after the break. Serge Gnabry, with a hat-trick, Alphonso Davies, Konrad Laimer, Noussair Mazraoui, Dayot Upamecano, Leroy Sane, Raphael Guerreiro, Ryan Gravenberch, Kingsley Coman and…

BRAZIL said Tuesday it will change civil servants’ work schedules so they can watch the national team play in the women’s World Cup — a concession until now reserved for the men’s top-flight football tournament. The employees can start their work days later so as to take in the tournament starting Thursday in Australia and New Zealand. “It is a measure of equity to give civil servants wishing to watch the matches the same rights as during the men’s World Cup,” the minister for management and innovation, Esther Dweck, said in a statement. As the tournament gets under way on…

POLICE in Nevada have confirmed they served a search warrant this week in connection with the unsolved killing of rapper Tupac Shakur. Detectives carried out the search at a home in Henderson, a suburb of Las Vegas where Shakur was gunned down in September 1996. Las Vegas Metropolitan police did not provide further details of the search, citing the ongoing investigation into his murder. Shakur was 25 when he was killed. No arrests have been made and no suspects are currently in custody. The home that was searched is less than 20 miles (32km) from the Las Vegas strip where…

NORTH Korea is reported to have detained a serving US army soldier who crossed the heavily fortified border from South Korea without permission. The man was on an organised tour of the UN-run zone dividing the two countries. The crisis comes during a particularly tense time with the North, one of the world’s most isolated states. The US tells its citizens not to go there. A senior US commander said there had been no contact with the soldier. Admiral John Aquilino Commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command said he was “not tracking” contact with North Korea. He said the soldier…

ETHIOPIA is allowing people to access Facebook, Telegram, TikTok and YouTube for the first time in more than five months. The blackout was imposed on 9 February this year after tensions between the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the government. Only those with access to virtual private network (VPN) software could get on to the social media platforms – something that cost them additional data. The Orthodox Church faced a split in February when some archbishops from the Oromia region said they wanted to form a new synod as they wanted to hold services on the Oromo language. The move triggered…

THE beheading of two people by suspected militants is causing alarm in northern Mozambique as such atrocities have become less common in recent years. This is partly because regional troops were deployed two years ago to help the army recapture territory from the militants in the northern region of Cabo Delgado. While this has allowed some people to return to their villages, it has also encouraged retreating insurgents to win over villagers from whom they buy food. Of late they have been saying their fight is with the defence forces, not locals. But the decapitated bodies of two fishermen were…

TWO members of the House of Representatives have defended the National Assembly in the wake of the controversy trailing its N70 billion allocation in the 2022 Supplementary Appropriation Act. The funds will cover renovations in the new chambers, according to the member for Obanliku/Obudu/Bekwara Federal Constituency in Cross River State, Peter Akpanke, and his counterpart representing Igbo-Eze North/Udenu Federal Constituency in Enugu State, Dennis Agbo. “There is a lot of work to be done, if you go to the National Assembly, what is being renovated at the moment is the main chambers and we are using the temporary chambers,” Akpanke…

ITALIAN champions, Napoli, have offered Victor Osimhen a new two-year contract extension with a salary worth N6.5bn — €6.5m plus €1m in bonuses. Osimhen, who has two years left on his contract at Napoli, had demanded a salary of €7m annually to extend his current deal with the Italian champions, who are keen to tie him down to a new deal amidst interests from some of Europe’s top clubs. The new proposed deal, it was gathered, will include a release clause worth £170m for the Nigerian striker. The 24-year-old steered the Partenopei to their first title in 33 years scoring…

NEW signing Lionel Messi has been officially presented to cheering crowds at Inter Miami’s DRV PNK Stadium. A sold-out crowd of about 20,000 waited through downpours and lightning to see the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner given a number 10 shirt. In a brief address in Spanish, Messi, 36, thanked supporters and said he had the “same desire” he always has. The World Cup-winning Argentina forward joins the Major League Soccer (MLS) club on a deal until the end of 2025. He will be reunited with defensive midfielder Sergio Busquets – with whom he played at Barcelona – who has also…

MILLIONS of US military emails have been mistakenly sent to Mali, a Russian ally, because of a minor typing error. Emails intended for the US military’s “.mil” domain have, for years, been sent to the west African country which ends with the “.ml” suffix. Some of the emails reportedly contained sensitive information such as passwords, medical records and the itineraries of top officers. The Pentagon said it had taken steps to address the issue. According to the Financial Times, which first reported the story, Dutch internet entrepreneur Johannes Zuurbier identified the problem more than 10 years ago. Since 2013, he…

MORE than a thousand children have been evacuated from a summer camp after wildfires broke out in Greece. Two separate blazes are tearing through the country as it suffers the effects of a scorching Mediterranean heatwave. In the coastal town of Loutraki, west of Athens, 1,200 children were evacuated as flames approached their camp. Meanwhile, police arrested a man suspected of starting another blaze in Kouvaras, south-east of the capital. Dozens of people have had to leave their homes in the wider area, assisted by emergency service crews. Several animals also had to be evacuated, including a number of horses…

FORMER Twitter employees who were based in Ghana say the company has gone silent on all negotiations with their lawyers following the massive layoffs in November last year. They also say their severance packages have not been paid. Agency Seven Seven, which is representing the aggrieved former staff members, says Twitter has not communicated with them or the staff since May when negotiations were almost concluded. The agency says the social media giant, through its legal team, had almost reached an agreement to pay the fired staff members three months’ salaries and repatriation funds for those employed from outside Ghana…

A CONTROVERSIAL Kenyan televangelist, who claimed he created miraculous pregnancies, has been acquitted of child-trafficking charges due to insufficient evidence. The prosecution failed to prove that Gilbert Deya stole five children two decades ago, a Kenyan magistrate said. He had been accused of handing them to women struggling to become pregnant. The self-styled pastor was extradited from the UK in 2017, after his decade-long legal battle to remain failed. Concerns were first raised about the conduct of Mr Deya, who ran a church in London, in a BBC investigation in 2004. Women experiencing difficulties conceiving who attended the Gilbert Deya…

SECURITY agents have apprehended an undisclosed number of suspected bandits, their wives and informants immediately after they returned from Saudi Arabia, where they participated in the just concluded Hajj exercise. Those arrested were from the Tsafe, Zurmi, Bungudu and Shinkafi areas of Zamfara State. The alleged terrorists, who went to Saudia Arabia alongside other pilgrims from the state, were arrested at the Sultan Abubakar III International Airport in Sokoto last week. Intending pilgrims from Zamfara often travel to Saudi Arabia through the Sokoto airport. Though spokespersons of security agencies in Zamfara State are feigning ignorance of the arrest, multiple sources,…

Barely 24 Hours after the rape report by Quest Times, the Niger State State Police Command has stated that, one ofthe suspected rapists, was only released on bail on medical grounds while investigation was ongoing. THE QUEST TIMES had earlier reported the violent rape of a 16-year-old girl by a council member of Niger State’s Lavun Local Government Area, with the assistance of three other men. The father of the victim, Mallam Ibrahim Anfani claimed that while two of the guys restrained Husaina’s hands and legs, the other two beat, shoved her to the ground, and savagely raped her. She…

MANCHESTER United have completed the signing of Inter Milan goalkeeper Andre Onana for £50m. Following a further meeting between United and Onana’s representatives on Sunday, it is understood an agreement was reached for a five-year contract, with the option of a further year. The Cameroonian, 27, will replace long-time number one David de Gea, who left the club last month after 12 seasons. Negotiations between the clubs were reportedly completed. Its certain Onana will complete his paper work in time to be on United’s tour of the United States when they leave later this week. Manager Erik ten Hag knows…

CARLOS Alcaraz defeated seven-time champion Novak Djokovic to claim his first Wimbledon title on Sunday, shattering the Serb’s dream of a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam crown. World number one Alcaraz recovered from dropping the first set and saving a set point in the second to win 1-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 after four hours and 42 minutes on Centre Court. It was a second major for the 20-year-old Spaniard following his US Open title last year as he became Wimbledon’s third youngest men’s champion. The result will also spark feverish speculation over the start of a generational shift, with…

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin said his country had enough cluster munition to answer if Ukraine was to use the weapons supplied by the US, in an interview published Sunday. Ukraine started receiving cluster weapons from the United States, a move that sparked concerns due to the long-term risk posed to civilians by bomblets that fail to explode. “Russia has a sufficient stockpile of various kinds of cluster munitions to reply Ukraine and US,” Putin told a state-television journalist. The controversial weapons can disperse up to several hundred small explosive charges, which can remain unexploded in the ground. “If they are…