THE latest ceasefire aimed at ending the devastating conflict in Sudan appears to be largely holding in the capital and two adjacent cities. For the first time in more than five weeks there appears to be relative peace, residents say. But there have been some breaches of the truce in Khartoum, and across the River Nile in Bahri and Omdurman. The military carried out air strikes minutes after the ceasefire came into force on Monday evening. The air strikes, targeting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), have since stopped. However, sporadic artillery fire could still be heard in Khartoum, residents…
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SOUTH Africa could become a “failed state” but has yet to reach that point, a senior official of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) has said. The admission by ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula comes as South Africa experiences power cuts, known as load-shedding, of up to 10 hours a day. “This load-shedding has just made a mess of our country,” he told the BBC’s HARDtalk programme. The power cuts have worsened South Africa’s economic crisis. The country is also battling high levels of corruption, all of which has damaged confidence in the ANC government. “If certain things are not…
FORMER British Prime Minister, Sir Tony Blair, has expressed his readiness to support the incoming administration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to succeed in office. Blair gave the commitment on Tuesday when he visited the president-elect at the Defence House, Abuja. He said the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, which he founded, would be a willing partner of the Tinubu administration especially in prioritising its goals and delivery. He said since leaving office as the UK prime minister, he had been working with governments around the world to help them deliver on their mandates. He said Blair Institute have…
THE Secretary to the Government of the Federation Boss Mustapha has said the Federal Government will redouble its commitment to repositioning Local Governments as drivers of grassroot development. The SGF stated this while receiving a report on ‘Strengthening Local Governance: Challenges, Options and Opportunities’ from members of Senior Executive Course 44 of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, led by the Monitor General, Assistant Inspector of Police, Aishatu Abubakar Baju. The report was presented to the SGF for inclusion in the transition documents for the incoming administration. SGF Receives NIPSS SEC 44 Report The SGF underscored the…
THE Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) has resumed oil exploration in the Lake Chad Basin in Borno state. The corporation had stopped the process in 2017. President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to join the ceremony virtually and spud-in the Wadi-B oil well drilling in Tuba community , Jere Local Government Area. According to officials of the NNPC Energy Service Ltd (ENSERV), the project is being done under NNPC Frontier Exploration Service for the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC. According to the project report, exploration commenced in 1976 and continued until 1996 with the processing of 33,000km of 2D…
NEWCASTLE qualified for the Champions League for the first time in 20 years after a 0-0 draw against relegation-haunted Leicester on Monday. Fifth placed Liverpool’s draw with Aston Villa on Saturday meant Newcastle needed just one point from their last two games to be assured of a Champions League place. Eddie Howe’s third placed side achieved their target at the first attempt at a jubilant St James’ Park. Howe and his players embarked on a lengthy lap of honour after the final whistle as they soaked up the acclaim from the Toon Army. Newcastle’s remarkable rise from relegation candidates to…
JUVENTUS on Monday were given a 10-point deduction in Serie A after a revision of their initial 15-point penalty inflicted on the club over illicit transfer activity. he new sanction, announced by the Italian Football Federation’s (FIGC) appeals court, dents Juventus’ hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League, pushing them out of the top four with three matches remaining this season. In April, Italy’s highest sporting court, the Sports Guarantee Board, revoked Juve’s 15-point penalty inflicted by the FIGC’s appeals court and sent the case for a new judgement. It asked the appeals court to revise punishments handed down…
AT least 20 youths were killed in a schoolgirls’ dormitory blaze in Guyana, officials said Monday, with anger growing in the tiny South American country over the tragedy. It is not yet known how the fire started Sunday in a dormitory housing girls aged 11-12 and 16-17, a person who helped the emergency services said under condition of anonymity. The building was gutted by the inferno. “Fourteen youths died at the scene, while six died at the Mahdia District Hospital,” said the fire department in a statement. The government had previously said 20 people died in the blaze at the…
THE driver of a truck has been detained after crashing into security barriers across from the White House on Monday night. A Secret Service official said nobody had been hurt – later adding that the truck had been deemed safe, and that initial investigations suggested the crash might have been intentional. Some local roads and pedestrian areas were closed off, he earlier said. The driver of the U-Haul removal truck was not immediately identified. WUSA – a CBS-affiliated television station covering Washington DC – cited a witness as saying that the driver had hit the barriers a second time, following…
MORE air strikes and clashes have been reported in Sudan – dampening hopes for the latest attempt at a ceasefire in the conflict-hit country. A new seven-day truce officially began at 21:45 local time (19:45 GMT). But witnesses have already spoken of further hostilities in the capital Khartoum and elsewhere. The violence began five weeks ago, and was triggered by a power struggle between the leaders of the regular army and a paramilitary faction. Multiple previous attempts to achieve a lasting pause in hostilities in the north-east African country have been shaky or collapsed. There was renewed optimism for this…
FOUR nurses in Tanzania’s western Tabora region are to be charged in court with harvesting the organs of baby twins, a regional official has said. A committee set up to investigate the incident found that the bodies of the prematurely born twins were mutilated after they had died. The mother found her babies’ eyes gouged out and part of their skin peeled off from the forehead. Tabora regional commissioner Batilda Buriani said the nurses, who are under arrest, have been suspended from their duties. She said the organ-harvesting was linked to witchcraft. The nurses misled the investigating committee by falsely…
USERS of Meta-owned instant messaging platform WhatsApp will be able to edit sent messages up to 15 minutes. WhatsApp, in a post on Monday, said, “You now get up to 15 minutes after sending a message to edit it. So you don’t have to worry if you duck it up.” Meta Chief Executive Officer, Mark Zuckerberg also made the announcement on his verified Facebook page. “You can now edit your WhatsApp messages up to 15 mins after they’re sent!” Last month, WhatsApp said its users can now access their individual accounts on as many as four phones. WhatsApp, which was…
REAL Madrid forward, Vinicius Junior, has labeled the Spanish La Liga a championship of racists after facing yet another racist abuse in his team’s 1-0 loss to Valencia on Sunday. The second half of the game became chaotic after Vinicius squared off with the Valencia fans and was later sent off for hitting Hugo Duro during a brawl. There was a delay of several minutes after Vinicius appeared to be racially abused by a Valencia supporter. Reacting to the incident in a Twitter post, the Brazilian said racism is now normal in La Liga as it is not the first,…
BORUSSIA Dortmund are one win away from their first Bundesliga title in a decade, after two second-half goals from Sebastien Haller delivered a 3-0 win at Augsburg on Sunday. Dortmund are now two points clear of Bayern Munich, who lost 3-1 at home to RB Leipzig on Saturday, with one match remaining. They now need to better Bayern’s result next week at home against Mainz to lift the Bundesliga shield for the first time since 2011-12. Despite Augsburg being reduced to 10 men late in the first half, the game was scoreless until the 58th minute, when Haller pounced on…
TWO pilots were killed Sunday when a US-made military helicopter crashed in the north of Afghanistan, the country’s defence ministry said. “An MD-530 helicopter of the country’s air force, which was flying from Mazar-e-Sharif airfield towards Samangan, collided with an electricity pylon,” the defence minister tweeted. In September, a Black Hawk helicopter commandeered by the Taliban government after the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan crashed during a training session in Kabul, killing two pilots and a crew member. When exiting the country in 2021, the US military left behind billions of dollars worth of aircraft, vehicles, weapons and other hardware…
A BEACH resort bristling with fortifications. A major road lined with anti-tank ditches. Satellite analysis by BBC Verify has uncovered some of the extensive defences built by Russia as it prepares for a major Ukrainian counter-attack. After months of stalemate, the expected assault is likely to be a crucial test for Ukraine as it seeks to prove it can achieve significant battlefield gains with the weapons it has received from the West. By examining hundreds of satellite images, the BBC has identified some key points in the significant build-up of trenches and other fortifications in southern Ukraine since October. These…
AN outbreak of cholera has killed at least 10 people in South Africa’s most populous province of Gauteng, health authorities have said. At least 95 people have since last Monday visited hospitals showing cholera symptoms in Hammanskraal, an area north of the capital, Pretoria. Lab tests on Sunday confirmed at least 19 were cases of cholera, the Gauteng health department said in a statement. It added that 37 people were admitted in critical condition. The victims included a three-year-old child and nine adults. Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko, the provincial head for health, has urged the public to take extra precautionary measures and…
SUDAN’s army is resisting an attempt by paramilitaries to advance towards its main airbase near the capital Khartoum, residents have said. The airfield is used by the military to carry out air strikes on the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and was also used by foreign governments to evacuate their nationals early in the conflict. The fighting comes despite the announcement of a new seven-day truce. Previous ceasefires have collapsed within minutes of being called. A US-Saudi statement said the latest truce would come into effect on Monday evening, and would be different as it provides for a “ceasefire monitoring mechanism”.…
AT least four persons have been confirmed dead and three others severely injured following an explosion from a local welder’s shop at Isa local government area of Sokoto State on Sunday afternoon. A resident in the community, who hinted our correspondent about the incident, said: “when I heard the loud explosion, what came to my mind was that bandits were on rampage. “It was when I saw people running towards the welder’s shop where the explosion occured that my mind was at rest that it wasn’t bandits that struck. “Upon enquiry, I was told that the explosion was from a…
ARSENAL manager Mikel Arteta says his side have had “an incredible journey” but now “must heal” after falling away in the Premier League title race. The Gunners’ defeat at Nottingham Forest on Saturday saw Manchester City confirmed as champions for the third straight season, while Arteta and his players are left wondering what might have been. After a flying start to the season, Arsenal were eight points clear at the top of the table after 18 games and held the same lead over City at the start of April, albeit having played a game more. However, a run of just…