Author: Editor

AS the first phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire in Gaza draws to a close, negotiations on the next stage, aimed at securing a permanent truce, have so far been inconclusive. Hamas on Saturday rejected Israel’s “formulation” of extending the first phase of the ceasefire instead of proceeding to the second phase as originally planned, calling it unacceptable. Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem told Al Araby TV that no talks were being held for a second ceasefire phase even as the first phase is due to expire on Saturday. Qassem said Israel bears the responsibility for not starting second phase negotiations, accusing…

AT least 37 people have been killed and dozens more injured in a crash involving two buses in the western Potosi region of Bolivia, police and local authorities have said. The accident happened on Saturday at 7am local time (11:00 GMT) on the route between the cities of Uyuni and Colchani, when one of the vehicles swerved into the oncoming lane. Uyuni is the gateway to the Salar de Uyuni, a major tourist attraction and the world’s largest salt flat at more than 10,000sq km (3,900sq miles). “As a result of this fatal accident we have 39 people injured in…

A YOUNG child has died of the Ebola virus in Uganda, the second victim of an outbreak that was announced in late January, the health ministry said on Saturday. On Tuesday, the east African country confirmed it had recorded 10 cases of the Sudan Ebola strain of the often deadly virus — including that of a nurse at Mulago National Referral Hospital, who had died. On Saturday, it announced an “additional positive case” had been detected at Mulago. The deceased, a child of four and a half, was “a resident of Kibuli (in the capital, Kampala) linked to the primary…

MORE than 500 mpox patients have fled clinics in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo over the last month amid the current conflict. Officials at Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), a leading health agency on the continent, have said they are worried as the missing patients risk spreading the highly contagious disease that is suspected to have killed at 900 people in DR Congo last year. The patients fled from facilities in Goma and Bukavu – two cities that descended into chaos as they were seized by the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels over the past weeks. “We were…

Q: Salaamu Alaikum Ya Sheikh, what, exactly, does moderation in Islam mean? Marwa Abdallah, Bauchi A: Amin Alaikil Salaam, What Allah requires from a Muslim is not overly burdensome. He prescribes moderation in every walk of life. I remember a conversation I recently had with my neighbor and friend who happens to be a non-Muslim. I had just returned from an Islamic conference. When she came to know about it, she looked worried, and asked: “No one advocates extremism at these sorts of things, do they?” I almost laughed, but realizing the seriousness of her concern, I reassured her that…

LAST month, Sufian Abu Ghassan joined hundreds of thousands of Palestinians defiantly trekking back to their battered neighborhoods after a ceasefire paused Israel’s 15-month war on Gaza. The 70-year-old was relieved that Israel’s mass killing of Palestinians had stopped, for now. However, he knew the mass destruction brought on by Israel’s war would make life difficult. His taxi business was destroyed, his home damaged, and there are hardly any provisions in Gaza, even drinking water. At least he and his family had survived Israel’s carpet bombing and siege and starvation tactics and had returned to northern Gaza, the only home…

META on Thursday said it had laid off 20 workers for leaking information to the media, as the social media giant faces pressure over the recent political shift of its boss Mark Zuckerberg towards US President Donald Trump. “We tell employees when they join the company, and we offer periodic reminders, that it is against our policies to leak internal information, no matter the intent,” a Meta spokesperson said, confirming a story first reported in The Verge. “We recently conducted an investigation that resulted in roughly 20 employees being terminated for sharing confidential information outside the company, and we expect…

THE US government’s sudden decision to axe funding for HIV programmes is a “wake-up call” for South Africa, the country’s health minister has told the BBC. Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, responding to US termination notices issued late on Wednesday, said the cuts could lead to deaths, but he had instructed state-funded clinics to ensure no patient went without life-saving drugs. There is chaos as many affected organisations scramble to find alternative help for some 900,000 HIV patients by the end of the day. “Instead of a careful handover, we’re being pushed off a cliff,” said Kate Rees from the Anova Health…

NIGERIA will host the first African edition of Investopia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) global investment platform, in September 2025 at Eko Atlantic City, Lagos, according to a statement on the Investopia website. The summit aims to strengthen economic ties between Africa and the Middle East while positioning Nigeria as a destination for global investors. Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment Jumoke Oduwole said the event reflects Nigeria’s emergence as an investment hub. “Hosting Investopia Africa 2025 in Nigeria reaffirms our transformation into a leading investment hub. Our reforms are creating a stable, transparent, and high-growth economy. We look forward…

Q – Salaamu Alaikum, Ya Sheikh, how could the Shaytaan appear to the disbelievers in the battle of Badr when he is chained up during Ramadan and the battle was in Ramadan? Aminu Harisu Kaugama, Jigawa. A – Amin Alaikal Salaam, it is well-known in the books of tafseer and seerah that the Shaytaan was present at the battle of Badr and that he appeared in the form of Suraaqah ibn Maalik. That is mentioned in the commentary on the verse in which Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning): “And (remember) when Shaitan (Satan) made their…

ISRAEL is attending talks on Thursday with the Palestinian group Hamas on moving to the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreed between the two in January, according to Egypt, which is hosting the talks. But even as the talks get under way, Israeli officials have made it clear they are seeking to change the terms of the agreed-upon three-phase deal, jeopardising its success. Under the terms of the deal, the first six-week phase – scheduled to end on March 1st – would see the withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Gaza’s main population areas, an increase in humanitarian aid…

NORTH Korea has carried out test launches of strategic cruise missiles to send a message to “enemies” about its counterattack capabilities, state media has said. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un presided over the missile drills in the Yellow Sea on Wednesday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Friday. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed that it had detected and tracked the launches in a statement later in the day. Pyongyang carried out the drills to warn “enemies, who are seriously violating the security environment of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and fostering and escalating the…

AT least 11 people have been killed and 65 wounded when explosions rocked the city of Bukavu in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) during a rally for the M23 rebel group and their supporters, the leader of the rebel alliance says. The DRC’s presidency, which says neighbouring Rwanda is backing the rebels, said in a post on X that “several” deaths occurred on Thursday and blamed “a foreign army illegally present on Congolese soil”. Corneille Nangaa – who is the leader of the Congo River Alliance, which includes M23, and who had himself been present at the…

A 14-YEAR-OLD boy has lost a court case he brought against his own parents after they moved him from London to Ghana to go to boarding school. The boy, described in court as shy, articulate, a keen cook and footballer, said his parents had tricked him into going to Africa, saying it was to visit a sick relative. He said had he known he was being sent to boarding school “there would have been no way I would have agreed to it”. But the High Court in London also heard his parents were worried he was being “groomed” into criminal…

IVORY Coast football legend Didier Drogba and former Ghanaian international Michael Essien have come to the defence of their former coach Jose Mourinho, who has been accused of making racist remarks by Turkish club Galatasaray. Galatasaray announced that it would pursue legal action against Fenerbahce manager Mourinho following Monday’s drawn league match, during which the 62-year-old allegedly said the home bench was “jumping like monkeys.” Fenerbahce, however, responded by stating that Mourinho’s remarks had been taken out of context and “deliberately distorted.” Drogba, who was Chelsea’s record signing in 2004 and played a key role under Mourinho in winning back-to-back…

THE Israeli military has arrested dozens of Palestinians as part of an expansion of its military operations across the occupied West Bank. At least 50 people were arrested in overnight raids, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) and the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, both cited by a report by the Palestinian news agency Wafa on Wednesday. According to Wafa’s report, the military rounded up people for interrogation in the governorates of Hebron, Tulkarem, Qalqilya, Nablus, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jericho and Tubas. As part of the campaign, Israeli troops stormed the Majed Abu Sharar School in the city of…

PRESIDENT Donald Trump says the United States will not give Ukraine significant security guarantees as he confirmed that the country’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would visit Washington, DC to sign a critical minerals deal on Friday. “I’m not going to make security guarantees beyond very much,” Trump said on Wednesday. “We’re going to have Europe do that.” Zelenskyy had earlier said that a “preliminary” economic agreement between Ukraine and the US was ready but noted that the deal did not yet include any US security guarantees that Kyiv views as vital to ending the war with Russia. A full agreement could…

AT least 46 people have been killed and 10 others injured after a Sudanese military plane crashed in a residential neighbourhood in Omdurman, the twin city of the capital Khartoum, state media says. The Antonov aircraft came down after take-off from the military’s Wadi Seidna air base on Tuesday evening, killing military officers and civilians. The cause of the crash is unclear, but military sources have been quoted as saying that it was likely to have been a technical malfunction. The crash came a day after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – which is at war with the army…

THE UK’s decision to suspend some aid to Rwanda is “punitive”, authorities in the East African country have said. In a statement, the UK said it was against Rwanda’s support for the M23, a rebel group that has captured swathes of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in a deadly uprising. Rwanda used to deny backing the M23, but recently it has adopted a more defensive line, saying fighting near the border between DR Congo and Rwanda is a threat to its security. More than 7,000 people have died and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes since the conflict escalated…

FORMER Manchester United defender, Rio Ferdinand has said the Africa Cup Of Nations(AFCON) needs to be given the same prestige as the likes of the World Cup and other major trophy tournament. ”It should be respected more than it is but what I would say is the lack of resources put into it.. the narrative from the media that comes out is that it is a Mickey Mouse tournament,” Ferdinand said during a podcast on Monday. The 46-year-old’s comments come after fellow Englishman and pundit, Jamie Carragher speaking after Liverpool‘s 2-0 victory over Manchester City on Sunday, felt that Mohamed…