HAMAS announces it agreed to release Israeli-American Idan Alexander and the bodies of four dual nationals as it demands Israel enter the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire. Shortly after, Hamas said it sent a negotiating team to Cairo to continue talks, as US envoy Witkoff proposed a “bridge” to extend the ceasefire. This is as Israeli forces launch more attacks on Gaza, killing at least two children in Gaza City and Beit Lahiya, as Israel’s total blockade on all aid into the Strip enters its 13th day. UN experts say Israel has carried out “genocidal acts” against Palestinians by…
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RUSSIA will spare the lives of Ukrainian soldiers in its western Kursk region if Kyiv orders them to surrender, President Vladimir Putin has said after US President Donald Trump urged him to avoid a “horrible massacre” there. Ukraine denied its forces in Kursk were encircled, describing the claim as a Russian fabrication, but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday described the situation for Ukrainian forces there as “very difficult”. Trump wrote on social media that he had asked the Russian president to spare the lives of thousands of Ukrainians who he said were “completely surrounded” and vulnerable. “I have strongly requested…
BENIN Republic President Patrice Talon on Friday said he would not stand for an unconstitutional third term in office but would be watching the choice of his successor closely. The former businessman has been in charge of the small west African nation since 2016 and his second term of office comes to end next year. “I’m telling you again for the umpteenth time, no, I will not be a candidate,” he said in an interview with Jeune Afrique. “This question troubles me. I have strengthened the constitution myself to stipulate that no one can serve more than two terms in…
A BRITISH man has been killed in a hit-and-run incident involving a vehicle in the motorcade of Kenyan President William Ruto. The man, who has been named as 79-year-old Edgar Riches, died on Thursday after being struck in the accident on a main road in the capital, Nairobi. Police detained a driver, who has since been released on bail. They say he was driving a support vehicle that was travelling at the rear of President Ruto’s official convoy. According to the police, the president’s detail had passed by the time the accident occurred. Police spokesman Michael Muchiri told the BBC…
Q: Salaamu Alaikum Sheikh. Is it true that giving charity purifies the soul? Ahmad Ali Maina, Borno A: One cannot attain piety unless he regularly spends his wealth in good causes according to his capacity. Qur’an reminds about charity and alms giving in so many places that it won’t be an exaggeration to say that it is one of the basic elements of belief. In surah Aal Imran, Allah says, “By no means shall you attain righteousness unless you give (freely) of that which you love. And whatever you spend; indeed, Allah is Knowing of it.” (Qur’an, 3:92). Similarly in…
BRUNO Fernandes led Manchester United into the Europa League quarter-finals with a hat-trick to beat Real Sociedad 4-1 at Old Trafford on Thursday and 5-2 on aggregate. The first three goals on the night came via the penalty spot as Mikel Oyarzabal had slotted Sociedad into an early lead. However, Fernandes quickly restored parity and coolly scored again from the spot on 50 minutes. The Portuguese international then ensured United will face Lyon in the last eight by firing home his 15th goal of the season. Diogo Dalot rounded off the scoring in one of Ruben Amorim’s best nights since…
AN Israeli drone strike on Gaza City’s Shujayea neighbourhood has killed a child, as negotiations continue in Doha over the fate of the ceasefire, with the US proposing a 60-day extension for the release of more Israeli captives. A United Nations official says the UN has documented at least 54 attacks on healthcare facilities in the occupied West Bank since January, putting 20 out of service entirely. Meanwhile its untold agony as Palestinians search mass grave near Gaza City hospital for remains of their loved ones. Using shovels and their bare hands, Palestinian families exhumed dozens of bodies from a…
RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin says he agrees with the idea of a US-backed 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine, but noted that the details of the accord need to be discussed and that any truce should lead to a long-lasting peace. “We agree with the proposals to cease hostilities,” Putin told reporters at a news conference in the Kremlin on Thursday following talks with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. “But we proceed from the fact that this cessation should be such that it would lead to long-term peace and would eliminate the original causes of this crisis,” he said. “The idea itself is…
SOUTHERN African leaders have announced they will pull their troops out of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo where they have been helping the government fight rebel forces. The troops were sent two years ago to support the Congolese army fight the Rwandan-backed M23 rebels, which has seized control of large parts of mineral-rich eastern DR Congo this year. At least 19 soldiers from South Africa, Malawi and Tanzania were killed when the M23 captured the region’s biggest city, Goma, in January. Thousands of people have been killed during the fighting and hundreds of thousands left without shelter after fleeing their…
THE war in Sudan has exposed more than 12 million people to “pervasive” sexual violence that is being used to “terrify” the entire population, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). As the war nears the two-year mark, UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell told a UN Security Council meeting on Thursday that the number of women and girls – and increasingly, men and boys – at risk of rape and sexual assault had increased by 80 percent over the last year. Referencing data analysed by UNICEF, Russell said that 221 cases of rape against children were reported in 2024…
Q: Salaamu Alaikum Sheikh, what are virtues of Umrah performed in Ramadan? Abu Qunaisa Saleh, Minna A: Ibn ‘Abbaas may Allaah be pleased with him narrated, “When the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allah exalt his mention )returned after performing Hajj (major pilgrimage), he asked Umm Sinaan Al-Ansaariyyah,‘Why did you not perform Hajj?’ She replied, ‘The father of so-and-so [i.e., her husband] had two camels and he went on pilgrimage on one of them, and the second is used for the irrigation of our land.’ The Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allah exalt his mention )said…
ATLETICO Madrid’s Julian Alvarez had a penalty dramatically ruled out in the shootout as Real Madrid edged out their city rivals to reach the quarter-finals. They will face Arsenal in the last eight, having kept alive their hopes of winning a record-extending 16th Champions League trophy. Neither side could find a winning goal before the end of extra time after Conor Gallagher’s strike – just 27 seconds into the game – had levelled the tie on aggregate after Real’s 2-1 first-leg win. That meant penalties were needed to determine the outcome and, after the first three had been converted, former…
IRAN’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says the United States’ offer to hold talks on its nuclear programme is an attempt to deceive global public opinion, as a letter arrived from US President Donald Trump urging negotiations. Trump said last week that he had sent a letter to the Iranian leadership seeking negotiations over a new deal with Tehran to restrain its rapidly advancing nuclear programme. The letter was handed over to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Wednesday by Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the president of the United Arab Emirates. While the two officials were meeting, the supreme leader told…
PORTUGAL looks likely to go to the polls for the third time in three years, outgoing prime minister Luis Montenegro indicated on Wednesday, after talks with the country’s president. Montenegro stepped down on Tuesday in the wake of a parliamentary no-confidence vote that his government lost. President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on Wednesday morning held preliminary talks with political leaders, including Montenegro and his Social Democratic Party (SPD), to plot a way to avert a political crisis. Afterwards, Montenegro, who called for elections “as soon as possible” to avoid instability, said: “All the conditions are in place for (elections) to…
THE African Development Bank (AfDB) and International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) on Wednesday, March 12, 2025, signed a $27 million agreement to finance the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) Phase II programme. Dr Abdul Kamara, the Director-General, Nigeria AfDB Group, who said this at the signing ceremony, reaffirmed the AfDB’s commitment to advancing agricultural transformation across Africa. Kamara said the agreement aligns with its Feed Africa strategy, which seeks to boost smallholder farmers’ productivity and enhance food security. He said the additional financing built on the $40 million provided for Phase I of TAAT would focus on expanding…
MOROCCO has been unanimously elected to preside over the 57th session of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development. The election took place on Wednesday at the headquarters of the ECA in Addis Ababa. This appointment reflects African countries’ confidence in Morocco’s ability to contribute to shaping a more integrated and prosperous economic landscape. Morocco has been an influential player in regional economic integration in recent years, with the kingdom being a prime policy mover towards inclusive development and growth. The 57th session centers on leading the implementation…
Q – My parents want me to get married to someone of their choice and I’m not interested in her at all. My father is very educated and my mother isn’t and so they fight all the time, but my father compromises and always made my mother smile in the end. However, I don’t want to live like them. I have met a girl on Facebook. She is residing in UK and is a striving Muslimah. She regularly posted Islamic articles which impressed me a lot since I also do Dawah work. I want to marry her because she is…
LIVERPOOL’s Champions League ambitions were ended after they lost on penalties to an outstanding Paris St-Germain side after a night of drama at Anfield. PSG, needing to claw back a 1-0 deficit from the first leg at home, demonstrated how they have matured under coach Luis Enrique as they knocked out a Liverpool side touted as favourites to win the tournament. Ousmane Dembele’s early goal provided the platform for the turnaround, with Liverpool unable to break the French visitors down, while PSG were a constant threat. PSG’s victory over two legs was thoroughly deserved, with keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma emerging as…
LEBANON says it has received four hostages taken by Israel during its war with Hezbollah, as Israel said it has agreed to hold talks to demarcate its border with Lebanon. The office of Lebanese President Joseph Aoun confirmed in a statement on Tuesday that it had received the four captives, with a fifth expected to be handed over the following day. Lebanese media, including the state news agency NNA, reported that the released Lebanese captives had arrived in a hospital in southern Lebanon’s Tyre. The handover occurred after Israel said on Tuesday that it had agreed to hold talks to…
A PLANE carrying former Philippines leader Rodrigo Duterte left Manila bound for The Hague on Tuesday night following his arrest on an International Criminal Court warrant tied to his deadly war on drugs, President Ferdinand Marcos said. The 79-year-old faces a charge of “the crime against humanity of murder”, according to the ICC, for a crackdown that rights groups estimate killed tens of thousands of mostly poor men, often without proof they were linked to drugs. “Former president Rodrigo Roa Duterte took off at 11:03 pm this evening and exited Philippine airspace,” Marcos told a press briefing shortly after takeoff.…