Author: Editor

MORE than 1.3 million people who fled the fighting in Sudan have headed home, the United Nations said Friday, pleading for greater international aid to help returnees rebuild shattered lives. Over a million internally displaced people (IDPs) have returned to their homes in recent months, UN agencies said. A further 320,000 refugees have crossed back into Sudan this year, mainly from neighbouring Egypt and South Sudan. While fighting has subsided in the “pockets of relative safety” that people are beginning to return to, the situation remains highly precarious, the UN said. Since April 2023, Sudan has been torn apart by…

ARSENAL midfielder Declan Rice says he “didn’t like” the reaction online from some fans about the signing of Noni Madueke from Chelsea, but backed the winger to “shock” with his talent. Madueke, 23, joined for an initial £48.5m last week as Arsenal look to increase their attacking options. However, the signing caused a backlash, with the hashtag #NoToMadueke posted across social media, and a petition started which had more than 5,000 signatures. “I know how driven he is,” Rice said after Arsenal’s 1-0 pre-season win over AC Milan in Singapore. “I’ve spoken to him and you’re going to see what…

HOSPITALS in the besieged Gaza Strip have recorded two more deaths “due to famine and malnutrition” in the past 24 hours, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, bringing the total to at least 115. US envoy Witkoff blames Hamas for failure to reach ceasefire, says US considering “alternative options” to free Israeli captives, after Hamas submitted response to ceasefire proposal earlier. The response reportedly includes amendments to conditions around the entry of aid, areas from which the Israeli army should withdraw, and guarantees on securing a permanent end to the war. Meanwhile, United States special envoy Steve Witkoff has said…

SAUDI Arabia on Thursday signed major investment and partnership deals with Syria, valued at $6.4 billion, to help rebuild the war-ravaged country’s infrastructure, telecommunications, and other major sectors. Saudi Arabia has been a major backer of the new Syrian government, which seized power after an Islamist-led offensive toppled longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad last December. Speaking at the Syrian-Saudi Investment Forum in the Damascus presidential palace, Saudi Investment Minister Khalid Al-Falih announced “the signing of 47 agreements and memoranda of understanding… with a total value of nearly 24 billion Saudi riyals (around $6.4 billion)”. With interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and…

THE International Criminal Court Thursday convicted a former top Central African Republic football official and a militiaman nicknamed Rambo for war crimes committed during the country’s civil war in 2013 and 2014. Ex-sports minister Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona was a senior leader of mainly Christian militias as the country slid into civil war, while Alfred Yekatom, a former MP, commanded them on the ground. The ICC sentenced Yekatom to 15 years behind bars for 20 war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder and torture. Ngaissona received 12 years for 28 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Their militia, known…

A NEW constitution that has allowed Togo’s long-time head of state Faure Gnassingbé to shift to a new role as all-powerful prime minister – and escape the constraint of presidential term limits – has triggered anger on the streets of the capital, Lomé. Protests are set to continue this Friday. At least five demonstrators have died while confronting official security forces in recent weeks. But it is not the orthodox political opposition predictably crushed in local elections last week – that has mobilised frustrated young Togolese people. Instead it is musicians, bloggers and activists who have tapped into popular anger…

MARCUS Rashford says he feels like he is “at home” at Barcelona after completing a season-long loan move to the La Liga club. The 27-year-old has joined on an initial 12-month loan from Manchester United, with the Catalan giants having the option of signing the England international on a permanent basis for £30.3m (35m euros) in 2026. He is the first English player to sign for Barcelona, who won the league and cup double last season, since Gary Lineker in 1986. Rashford hasn’t played for Manchester United, his boyhood club, since last December after being dropped by manager Ruben Amorin,…

BRAZIL has said that it will move to intervene in a case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) alleging that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza, as non-Western countries step up calls for greater pressure. The Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday that it was in the “final stages” of submitting a formal intervention to the ICJ regarding the case, originally brought by South Africa. “The international community cannot remain inactive in the face of ongoing atrocities,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “Brazil believes there is no longer room for moral ambiguity or political omission.…

SEVERAL thousand people rallied in central Kyiv on Wednesday in an unprecedented protest against a law signed off by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that removes the independence of two key anti-corruption bodies. The mostly young marchers urged Zelensky to veto the legislation in the biggest protest in Kyiv since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The bill passed on Tuesday is the latest in a series of moves criticised by Ukrainian anti-corruption activists. They warn that growing government pressure threatens Ukraine’s reforms and ambition to join the European Union. Zelensky has rejected the criticism, saying the law…

AN Ethiopian official has denied Donald Trump’s claim that the United States helped fund Ethiopia’s new megadam on the River Nile, saying it is false and “destructive”. Last week, President Trump said the controversial dam was built “with United States money, largely”. Officially known as the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd), the project is Africa’s biggest hydro-electric plant and a major source of pride for Ethiopians. Over the 14 years it has taken to complete Gerd, the Ethiopian authorities have repeatedly said that the dam was funded by the government, along with contributions from the Ethiopian people. The dam has,…

THE government has revealed details of its plans to cut foreign aid, with support for children’s education and women’s health in Africa facing the biggest reductions. The government said in February it would slash foreign aid spending by 40% – from 0.5% of gross national income to 0.3% – to increase defence spending to 2.5% after pressure from the US. A Foreign Office report and impact assessment show the biggest cuts this year will come in Africa, with less spent on women’s health and water sanitation with increased risks, it says, of disease and death. Aid charities have criticised the…

AT least 15 Palestinians, including four children, have starved to death in a single day in the besieged Gaza Strip, according to health officials, bringing the total number of deaths from malnutrition since Israel’s war began to 101. The announcement on Tuesday came as Israeli forces continued to pound Gaza, killing at least 81 people, and the United Nations described the situation in the enclave as a “horror show with a level of death and destruction without parallel in recent times”. The Palestinian Ministry of Health said that the 15 starvation-related deaths over the past 24 hours included four children…

UNITED States President Donald Trump has called for the arrest of former President Barack Obama, repeating unproven claims that the Democrat’s administration intentionally misled the public in its assessment of the 2016 election. At Tuesday’s Oval Office meeting with Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr, Trump accused Obama, a longtime rival, of helming a criminal conspiracy. “ The leader of the gang was President Obama, Barack Hussein Obama,” Trump told the media. “ He’s guilty. This was treason. This was every word you can think of. They tried to steal the election. They tried to obfuscate the election. They did things that…

PEOPLE in a gold-mining area in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo have been using their bare hands and basic tools to free miners trapped underground. Six have been pulled out alive, with one seriously injured, since shafts collapsed in Lomera in the early hours of Sunday, local journalist Ashuza Barack told the BBC. There have been conflicting reports on the death toll. One resident said that 12 bodies had been found but Barack said no bodies had been recovered. The area, in South Kivu province, has been under the control of M23 rebels since they captured swathes…

A KENYAN man on death row in Saudi Arabia for more than a decade has been released after a lengthy campaign to save him from execution, a Kenyan foreign affairs ministry official has said. Stephen Abdukareem Munyakho was released under a “judicial decree”, Korir Sing’oei posted on X, without giving further details. His mother, veteran journalist Dorothy Kweyu, told local media that she “rolled on the floor” when she heard of his release. Munyakho was working in Saudi Arabia when he was convicted of murdering a Yemeni colleague in 2011. The crime carries the death penalty, but after protracted negotiations,…

BRYAN Mbeumo says he has joined “the club of his dreams” after completing his move from Brentford for an initial £65m. The 25-year-old has signed a five-year contract, with the option of a further 12 months. He is manager Ruben Amorim’s third signing of the summer after the arrivals of forward Matheus Cunha and left-back Diego Leon. Mbeumo’s move, seven weeks after United’s first bid for the Cameroon international, brings to an end one of the longest-running sagas of the summer. United’s third offer, worth an initial £65m with £6m in add-ons, was accepted last week. “As soon as I…

AT least 65 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza, medical sources say, as the Israeli military sent tanks into areas of Deir el-Balah in central Gaza for the first time since Israel began its assault on the besieged territory in October 2023. Israel on Monday launched the ground offensive on southern and eastern areas of the city that is packed with displaced Palestinians, a day after its military issued a forced displacement order for residents in the areas, forcing thousands of people to flee west towards the Mediterranean coast and south to Khan Younis. Tank shelling in…

THE Trump administration released hundreds of thousands of pages of records on Monday about the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. despite concerns from the civil rights leader’s family. “The American people have waited nearly sixty years to see the full scope of the federal government’s investigation into Dr King’s assassination,” Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said in a statement. “We are ensuring that no stone is left unturned in our mission to deliver complete transparency on this pivotal and tragic event in our nation’s history.” Gabbard said more than 230,000 pages of documents were being released and were…

SOUTH Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday dismissed his embattled higher education minister, weeks after a key party in his unity government filed criminal charges accusing her of lying to parliament. Ramaphosa has faced mounting pressure in recent months as several ministers from his African National Congress (ANC) party have been accused of corruption, deepening tensions within the 10-party ruling coalition. The second largest group in government, the Democratic Alliance (DA), earlier this month filed a complaint accusing Minister Nobuhle Nkabane of lying to parliament to cover up the “fraudulent” appointment of ANC-linked figures to education authority boards. “President Cyril…

PROMINENT Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi has been charged with illegal possession of ammunition linked to protests last month in which at least 19 people were killed. He denied the charge and has been released on bail. Mr Mwangi was not charged with “facilitation of terrorist acts”, as the police had earlier said. On Sunday, investigators said they had seized phones, a laptop, and notebooks from his Lukenya home on the outskirts of the capital, Nairobi, and hard drives, computers, tear gas canisters and a blank firearm round from his office in the city. His arrest – and especially the suggestion…