Author: Editor

AN 88-YEAR-OLD man accused of being a major financier of the 1994 Rwandan genocide is unfit to stand trial, a UN war crimes court has ruled. Félicien Kabuga had “severe dementia”, according to medical experts. He was arrested in Paris in 2020 after evading capture for 26 years. Said to have been Rwandan’s richest man at the time, he is alleged to have financed ethnic Hutu militias who slaughtered about 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. He denies the charges. The head of Rwandan genocide survivors’ association Ibuka told BBC Great Lakes he was “saddened” by the judges’ decision. “As survivors,…

SENEGAL has temporarily closed its consulates abroad following attacks on diplomatic missions in Bordeaux, Milan, Paris and New York among others. The foreign affairs ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that the precautionary measure followed “a series of aggressions that caused serious damage”. It said the consulate in Milan had been particularly hard hit, with passport-making machines and identity cards damaged. The closures come amid political tensions in Senegal following the sentencing of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko last week to two years in prison which led to deadly protests. Italian media reported on Monday that about 40 Sonko supporters…

ONE of the surviving sons of the former Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, has gone on hunger strike to protest against his prolonged detention in Lebanon, says his lawyer Paul Romanos. Hannibal Gaddafi has been held in Lebanon for more than eight years after being abducted by Lebanese militants from Syria, where he had taken refuge after the downfall and death of his father, he adds. Hannibal Gaddafi was subsequently taken by the Lebanese authorities and has been detained ever since in a jail in Beirut without trial, Mr Romanos says.

TEN people from the Democratic Republic of Congo have been killed in an army attack on a university campus in Sudan, the Congolese government says. They died in bombardments on Sunday afternoon at Khartoum’s International University of Africa, it said. “What hurts us very much is that it was the regular army that dropped the bombs knowing there were foreigners there,” the Congolese foreign minister said. Rival military forces have been battling in Sudan’s capital for weeks. Paramilitary fighters of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have bases in many residential areas across the city, which tend to be attacked by…

APPLE on Monday unveiled its first mixed reality headset, challenging Facebook-owner Meta in a market that has yet to tempt users beyond videogamers and tech geeks. The release was the most significant product launch by the iPhone maker since it unveiled the Apple Watch in 2015. The Vision Pro, which was generally well received on Monday, will cost a hefty $3,499 and be available early next year in the United States only, the company said. “There are certain products that shift the way we look at technology and the role it plays in our lives,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook…

PRINCE Harry on Tuesday testified he had suffered lifelong “press invasion” and that some media had blood on their hands, as he became the first British royal in more than 100 years to give evidence in court. The younger son of King Charles III accuses Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) — publisher of The Mirror, Sunday Mirror and the Sunday People tabloids — of illegal information gathering, including phone hacking. In a much-anticipated appearance in the witness box at London’s High Court, Harry said he had been the victim of relentless and distressing media intrusion “most of my life up until…

MANCHESTER City striker Erling Haaland is the world’s most expensive player and valued at 245.1m euros (£211.2m), a new study says. Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr and Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka are ranked second and third respectively in the CIES Football Observatory’s latest report. Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham came in at number four. Benfica defender Antonio Silva is the highest ranked player outside of Europe’s big five leagues. The CIES Football Observatory utilised a wide variety of measures to create a scientific model, estimating the top 100 most expensive players. The study took into account over 2,000 transactions of players…

BALLON d’Or winner Karim Benzema has agreed terms on a three-year deal with Saudi Arabian champions Al-Ittihad after leaving Real Madrid. French striker Benzema, 35, won 25 trophies – including five Champions Leagues and four La Ligas – in 14 years with Madrid but they agreed to let him leave his contract a year early. He scored 354 goals for Real, second only to Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo, who hit 450 Real goals, plays for another Saudi club, Al-Nassr. “It’s a good league and there are many good players,” said Benzema. “Cristiano Ronaldo is already there, a friend which shows Saudi…

NIGERIA have bowed out of the 2023 U-20 World Cup after slumping to a 1-0 defeat against South Korea on Sunday. The Flying Eagles enjoyed the earlier exchanges but failed to make them count in the quarter-final clash. While the game ended barren after normal time, it only took South Korea five minutes into the extra time to head home the lone goal of the match. Coach Ladan Bosso’s men dominated the game, especially in the first half and the latter part of the match. They had five corners in the first half, a credence to their dominance. One of…

AC MILAN’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic has retired from football at the age of 41, bringing to an end one of the modern era’s most glittering careers. “I say goodbye to football but not to you,” the Swede told the San Siro crowd after Sunday’s last game of the season. Ibrahimovic had already announced he would leave the Italian club. He scored 511 goals for clubs including Paris St-Germain, Manchester United and both AC and Inter Milan, winning league titles in four countries. Ibrahimovic began his second spell with AC Milan in early 2020, having won the Scudetto with them in 2011,…

VICTOR Osimhen has won the Serie A Golden Boot for scoring the highest number of goals in the 2022/23 campaign. The feat makes him the first African to scoop the prize. The Napoli star scored 26 goals in 32 matches, edging his closest rival Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martinez to land the highly coveted “Capocannoniere” prize. Osimhen had already scored 25 goals before Napoli’s Sunday game against Sampdoria. He then scored from the spot to add one more strike to his tally as his club won 2-0. “This season has been brilliant for me, for my teammates, and for Napoli. We…

OIL-PRODUCING countries have agreed to continued cuts in production in a bid to shore up flagging prices. Saudi Arabia said it would make cuts of a million barrels per day (bpd) in July and Opec+ said targets would drop by a further 1.4 million bpd from 2024. Opec+ accounts for around 40% of the world’s crude oil and its decisions can have a major impact on oil prices. In Asia trade on Monday, Brent crude oil rose by as much as 2.4% before settling at around $77 a barrel. Average diesel prices fell by a record 12p per litre in…

INDIA’s railway minister has suggested a signal fault led to the Odisha rail disaster, with a “change in electronic interlocking” the likely cause. Ashwini Vaishnaw later said the cause and people responsible for the deadly three-train crash in eastern India had been identified but did not elaborate. India’s Railway Board said there had been “some kind of signalling interference” rather than failure. A report into India’s worst rail accident this century is due later. Meanwhile the death toll has been revised down to 275 after some bodies were counted twice, officials said. Of the 1,175 injured people taken to hospital,…

MOZAMBIQUE’s justice minister says prison guards who help inmates get hold of drugs and other banned substances are “worse than the criminals” themselves. “Alcohol, cigarettes, mobile phones and other equipment is always being found in the cells,” Helena Kida said. She made the comments during a lecture on human rights in the Special Women’s Penitentiary, in the southern city of Matola, saying that all manner of illegal items are entering prisons, which would be impossible without the connivance of the guards. “They have their rights and duties, as well as constitutional guarantees,” she said, urging them to honour the oaths…

PETROL prices have almost doubled in Benin after it was announced that fuel subsidies would be scrapped in next-door Nigeria. Nigeria is one of Africa’s oil giants and subsidised petroleum products are routinely smuggled into Benin, where they’re mostly sold by the roadside and serve a large part of the population Popularly called kpayo – which means “unoriginal” in Goun, a native language – it is cheaper than fuelling up at stations, local media reported. Nigeria’s new President Bola Tinubu had in his inauguration speech said fuel subsidy was “gone”, an announcement that triggered panic-buying and a surge in fuel…

EDEN Hazard will leave Real Madrid on 30 June after reaching an agreement to terminate his deal early. Hazard joined for £89m in 2019 but has played just 54 league games, including only six this season. The 32-year-old was under contract until June 2024 but on Real have “reached an agreement” to end the deal. The club said it expressed its “affection” to former Chelsea forward Hazard and wished him “the best of luck for the next stage of his career”. During his injury-hit time in the Spanish capital, the Belgium international won the Champions League, a Club World Cup,…

PEP Guardiola hopes the postscript to a historic season for Manchester City will be Ilkay Gundogan signing a new contract. The midfielder, whose present deal at the club expires this summer, scored two as City beat Manchester United 2-1 at Wembley to win the FA Cup. Next Saturday’s Champions League final against Inter Milan could be the 32-year-old’s final City appearance. “He knows what I think,” said Sky Blues boss Guardiola. “(Football director) Txiki (Begiristain) is working on it. Hopefully he can be successful.” Guardiola and Gundogan, who live in the same Manchester city centre apartment block, have built a…

TURKEY’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan was sworn in for a third term as president on Saturday, promising to serve “impartially” after winning a historic runoff election to extend his two-decade rule. Erdogan called for unity and the anger and resentment of the campaign to be set aside as he spoke during a lavish ceremony at his presidential palace in the capital Ankara attended by dozens of world leaders. Turkey’s transformative but divisive leader won the May 28 runoff against a powerful opposition coalition, despite an economic crisis and anger over the response to a February earthquake that killed more than 50,000…

THREE Israeli soldiers have been killed by an Egyptian security officer in exchanges of fire on the Israeli side of the border. The armed forces of both countries say they are jointly investigating the unusual incident. Egypt says its officer crossed into Israel while chasing drug traffickers. The Israeli military has said the shootings were assumed to be connected with a drug smuggling operation it had thwarted overnight. According to the army, two Israeli soldiers – a man and woman – posted in a remote spot along the border were shot dead early on Saturday morning. Their bodies were discovered…

THE government in Senegal has deployed soldiers throughout the capital, Dakar, as residents brace themselves for more unrest. On Thursday clashes between security forces and protesters left nine people dead. It followed the conviction of opposition politician Ousmane Sonko for immoral behaviour. He was sentenced – in his absence – to two years in jail. Mr Sonko maintains the charges were politically motivated to prevent him from running in next year’s presidential election. Police have surrounded his house and some social media sites have been blocked by the government.