CONTRARY to UK’s spousal ban and family ban, Canada has announced faster temporary resident visa (TRV) processing and more considerate application measures. Making this known in a statement, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Sean Fraser, said the new process is for families to be together sooner while they wait for their permanent residence to be finalized. He said that going forward, most of these applications will be processed within 30 days, and applicants will benefit from processing measures specific to their circumstances as spouses and dependents. The Minister noted that many applications have already been processed using these new…
Author: Editor
Read More
ENTIRE villages in Sudan’s West Darfur region have been burned to the ground by marauding militias, with aid agencies now warning the region is on the brink of a “humanitarian catastrophe”. Widespread looting and the destruction of vital infrastructure has left many with little to no access to food, clean water, and medicine. A ceasefire between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has led to a lull in the violence around the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. But fighting has continued in Darfur, and as the conflict there enters its seventh week, the region appears to have plunged into…
UGANDA’s President Yoweri Museveni has confirmed that a Ugandan army base in Somalia was stormed by hundreds of al-Shabab militants just before dawn on Friday. In a statement published on Twitter, he criticised the Ugandan troops stationed there, accusing them of failure. These are sharp words from the President Museveni about the conduct of his own soldiers after Islamist fighters managed to overrun one of their African Union mission bases in Somalia. He said the soldiers panicked and withdrew. This was unnecessary, he said, because their defence would have been strong enough if they had stayed in place. On Friday,…
LEICESTER City’s nine-year stay in the Premier League came to an end as they were relegated in agonising fashion despite beating West Ham on the final day of the season. The Foxes’ fate was out of their hands heading into the last round of fixtures, and Everton’s 1-0 victory over Bournemouth meant the 2015-16 winners slipped into the Championship by two points. While Toffees fans were in ecstasy at Goodison Park, Leicester supporters at the King Power were left to rue a miserable campaign in which they won only nine league matches. Knowing they needed a win to have any…
THE Flying Eagles were beaten 2-0 by Brazil in their last group game of the ongoing FIFA U-20 World Cup on Saturday, but still reached the round of 16 of the tournament as the best third-placed team in the Group stages with six points. Nigeria will face either hosts Argentina or USA for a place in the quarter-finals. Nigeria needed at least a draw against the Brazilians to seal top spot in Group D but they found themselves behind in the first half no thanks to Henrique Pedroso and Marquinhos goals. Italy also beat Dominican Republic 3-0 in the other…
LIONEL Messi scored another record-breaking goal as Paris St-Germain won an unprecedented 11th Ligue 1 title with a draw at Strasbourg. Messi’s strike, a fine finish from Kylian Mbappe’s pass, is his 496th in Europe’s top five leagues – taking him past Cristiano Ronaldo’s mark of 495. It is his 32nd for PSG, and could be his last as he is expected to leave this summer. Kevin Gameiro bundled in an equaliser but PSG only needed a point. The full-time celebrations were muted with PSG’s superior goal difference over second-placed Lens meaning they had the title practically secure last week.…
BAYERN Munich won an 11th consecutive Bundesliga title as they beat Cologne to overtake Borussia Dortmund on a thrilling final day. Dortmund would have won their first title since 2011-12 had they beaten Mainz, but a 2-2 draw opened the door for Bayern. They took advantage thanks to Jamal Musiala’s 89th-minute winner. A Cologne penalty had cancelled out Kingsley Coman’s earlier strike, but Musiala sent the away fans wild. Dortmund’s players and fans were left dejected despite coming back from 2-0 down at the break, with Sebastian Haller having a first-half penalty saved. It looked as if Bayern had blown…
BENFICA won the Portuguese Primeira Liga title for the first time since 2018-19 thanks to a 3-0 win over Santa Clara on the final day. Defeat would have opened the door for Porto but goals from Goncalo Ramos, Rafa Silva and Alex Grimaldo got Roger Schmidt’s side over the line. It is a Portuguese record 38th title. Benfica finish the season with only four defeats in all competitions, with three of them coming in the space of nine days in April.
CONNECTICUT lawmakers have voted to exonerate 12 people more than 370 years after they were convicted of witchcraft in colonial America. Eleven of the 12 were hanged after trials that the state Senate now acknowledges were a “miscarriage of justice”. It follows a long-running campaign by descendants to clear the names of those wrongfully accused of being witches. Dozens were executed for witchcraft in the US in the 17th Century. On Thursday, Connecticut’s Senate voted 33-1 to exonerate those convicted in trials that took place in the state in the mid-to-late 1600s. The senator who voted against the move, Rob…
TURKS are voting in a momentous presidential run-off to decide whether or not Recep Tayyip Erdogan should remain in power after 20 years. His challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu, backed by a broad opposition alliance, has billed the vote as a referendum on Turkey’s future direction. The president, who is favourite to win, promises a new era uniting the country around a “Turkish century”. But the more pressing issue is rampant inflation and a cost-of-living crisis. Polling stations close at 17:00 local time (15:00 BST). Turkish expats in Europe and the US have already cast their vote. Turnout in the first round…
FIFTEEN people in Cameroon taking the body of a loved one for burial died Friday when their minibus was involved in a crash with a lorry, the transport minister said. The lorry’s driver also died in the accident and three people in the minibus were injured, Transport Minister Jean Ernest Massena Ngalle Bibehe said on state radio, CRTV. The crash happened in the industrial city of Edea, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) east of the country’s economic capital, Douala. “The minibus was transporting a body,” the minister added but was unable to elaborate on the cause of the collision. Cameroon…
BOTH sides in Sudan’s conflict could be carrying out war crimes on medical facilities and staff, according to evidence seen by BBC News Arabic. Hospitals have been hit by airstrikes and artillery fire while patients were still in the building and doctors have also been singled out for attack – all of which are potential war crimes. Only a handful of the 88 hospitals in the capital, Khartoum, remain open after weeks of fighting, according to Sudan’s Doctors Union. The BBC team used satellite data and mapping tools, analysed user-generated content on a huge scale, and spoke to dozens of…
BORUSSIA Dortmund will collect their first Bundesliga crown in 11 years if they defeat Mainz at home on Saturday. Dortmund are two points clear of Bayern Munich at the top as they go into the final game of the season. Bayern head to Cologne needing a win, coupled with a draw or defeat for Dortmund, to hand them an 11th successive German top-flight title. “We cannot allow this to be taken from us,” said Dortmund sports director Sebastian Kehl. Kehl, who captained the 2011-2012 team that won the league under former boss Jurgen Klopp, added: “We just have to win…
LIVERPOOL forward Mohamed Salah said he is “devastated” the club have missed out on a spot in next season’s Champions League and added “there’s absolutely no excuse for this”. Salah posted his comments on social media shortly after Liverpool’s failure to finish in the top four was confirmed by Manchester United beating Chelsea. Liverpool will finish fifth and play in next season’s Europa League. “We let you [fans] and ourselves down,” said Egypt international Salah, 30. Liverpool won seven of their past eight games in a late push for fourth place but, ultimately, could not make up for their inconsistent…
A GOVERNMENT official in India has been suspended after he ordered a reservoir to be drained to retrieve his phone. It took three days to pump millions of litres of water out of the dam, after Rajesh Vishwas dropped the device while taking a selfie. By the time it was found, the phone was too water-logged to work. Mr Vishwas claimed it contained sensitive government data and needed retrieving, but he has been accused of misusing his position. The food inspector dropped his Samsung phone, worth about $1,200 (100,000 rupees), into Kherkatta Dam, in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh,…
A CROCODILE farmer in northern Cambodia has been torn to pieces by about 40 of the reptiles after falling into their enclosure, local police say. Luan Nam, aged 72, tried to move one of the egg-laying animals out of its cage when it grabbed his stick in its mouth, pulling him in, police said. “Other crocodiles pounced, attacking him until he was dead,” police chief Mey Savry told the AFP news agency. The incident happened near the city of Siem Reap on Friday. Mr Nam’s body was covered with bite marks and one of his arms was missing, Mr Savry…
AN 85-Year-Old British citizen in Sudan was shot and injured by snipers and his wife then died of starvation despite repeated calls for assistance made to the nearby British embassy in Sudan, their family has told BBC News. Abdalla Sholgami lived with his disabled 80-year-old wife, Alaweya Rishwan, just over the road from the UK’s diplomatic mission in Khartoum – an area that saw some of the fiercest fighting at the start of the conflict last month. But the London hotel owner was never offered support to travel from their home to the airfield where evacuation flights departed from, even…
THE militant al-Shabab group on Friday morning carried out an attack on a Ugandan troops’ base of the African Union Transition Mission (ATMIS) in Bulla Mareer district, in Lower Shabelle region in Somalia. The attack began shortly after morning prayers. It started with a large explosion, believed to be an explosives-laden vehicle. Buulo Mareer is about 110km (68 miles) from the capital, Mogadishu. Residents reported that after the big explosion, two more explosions occurred in the camp, before a fight started between the Ugandan troops and the attackers. Al-Shabab said they captured the camp and killed dozens of ATMIS soldiers,…
THE Boeing 737-800 series aircraft which the Federal Government flew into Abuja for the unveiling of Nigeria Air belongs to Ethiopia Airlines, this newspaper can confirm. The aircraft took off from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at 9:55am on Friday and landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, at 12:43 p.m. Shortly after the aircraft landed, Hadi Sirika, Minister of Aviation, expressed delight that after “a very long, tedious, daunting and difficult path”, the project had taken off. He later unveiled the aircraft with registration ET-APL at the General Aviation Terminal of the Abuja airport. Checks by this newspaper showed that…
MANCHESTER United sealed qualification for next season’s Champions League with a 4-1 thrashing of beleaguered Chelsea on Thursday. Casemiro, Anthony Martial, Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford were on target as the Red Devils moved up to third in the Premier League. A miserable night summed up Chelsea’s season despite spending over £500 million in the transfer market as they slumped to an eighth defeat in 10 games since Frank Lampard returned as interim manager. By contrast, confirmation of a top-four finish rounds off a successful first season in charge for Erik ten Hag after also ending United’s six-year trophy drought…