Author: Editor

KENYA has deployed 217 more police officers to Haiti as part of a multinational force to curb gang violence plaguing the Caribbean nation, Kenya’s interior minister said on Saturday. According to the minister, Kipchumba Murkomen, the police officers departed from Kenya on Friday. “The Kenya-led mission has made tremendous progress in reducing gang violence, earning praise across the globe,” Mukomen said as he shared a photo of himself with some of the officers aboard a plane. Kenya’s “commitment to this historic mission is unwavering,” he said. Kenya first sent troops to Haiti in June and the total deployment now exceeds…

DARWIN Nunez struck twice in stoppage time to earn Liverpool a 2-0 win at Brentford and a six-point Premier League lead over Arsenal, who blew a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 against Aston Villa on Saturday. Liverpool looked set to drop points for the third consecutive league game until the much-maligned Uruguayan doubled his tally of Premier League goals for the season in the dying seconds in west London. Nunez swept home Trent Alexander-Arnold’s cross before smashing in a second for a vital twist in the title race. Liverpool had been wasteful in front of goal in a 1-1 draw…

MEDIATOR Egypt said Saturday that Israel is to release more than 1,890 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 33 Israeli hostages in the first phase of a Gaza truce. The foreign ministry said the prisoners would be freed during the first, 42-day phase of the ceasefire which is set to begin at 0630 GMT on Sunday. Qatar, which mediated the deal along with Egypt and the United States, had announced 33 hostages would be released by militants in Gaza during the first phase. Israel’s justice ministry had earlier said 737 Palestinian prisoners and detainees would be freed — none before 4:00…

DONALD Trump’s family will likely be less formally involved in White House business in his second term as they were in the first, but some will remain key to his political operation as unofficial advisors. Here is a look at how Trump’s wife, five children and other relatives will play a role in the new administration after Monday’s US presidential inauguration. Melania Trump: Melania — who met Trump at a party in 1998 and wed him in 2005 — returns as first lady to the White House, which she plans to make her primary residence. This would differ from Trump’s…

SEVEN years after their baby daughter was killed during a brutal midnight operation by police in Kenya at a time of post-election tension, Joseph Oloo Abanja and Lensa Achieng are still raw with emotion as the case against the alleged officers involved has once again been delayed. “It is a scar that will never fade away,” Ms Achieng, a hotel worker, tells the BBC about the death of six-month-old Samantha Pendo who died with a broken skull and of internal bleeding. After each postponement or small development, the couple are swamped with calls. Each moment of expectation leads to disappointment…

Mozambique’s new President Daniel Chapo has been sworn in at a low-key ceremony in the capital, Maputo, that was marred by an opposition boycott following heavily disputed elections. In his first presidential address, Chapo, 48, pledged to “devote all my energies” to promoting unity and human rights in a nation scarred by post-election violence. A local civil society group says that more than 300 people have been killed in clashes with security forces since elections in October. Eight people were killed by police on Wednesday as they protested against the inauguration, Dr Wilker Dias, head of election observer group Plataforma…

REPLACING Old Trafford with a new 100,000-seater Manchester United stadium and regenerating the surrounding area could bring £7bn to the UK economy, it has been claimed. A task force chaired by Lord Sebastian Coe looking into options for either a new or redeveloped stadium has released the figures as part of a feasibility study. It found the option to renovate Old Trafford could see its capacity increase to 87,000, with the club set to decide on its preferred approach by the summer. Lord Coe said the plans would act as a catalyst for “one of the biggest regeneration projects ever…

ISRAEL’s devastating offensive in Gaza — and the United States’ support for it — will “haunt” outgoing Secretary of State Antony Blinken for the rest of his life, says a former diplomat, who quit in protest over the war last year. Hala Rharrit told Al Jazeera in a phone interview that the administration of President Joe Biden is skirting the US’s own regulations by continuing to arm Israel despite well-documented abuses in Gaza. “They are willfully — and I don’t say that word lightly, willfully — violating and evading US law,” said Rharrit, who resigned from the US State Department…

IRANIAN President Masoud Pezeshkian and Russian President Vladimir Putin have signed a cooperation pact, deepening the partnership between two of the world’s most heavily sanctioned nations. Iranian and Russian officials said the “comprehensive strategic partnership treaty” covers areas from trade and military cooperation to science, culture and education. At a joint news conference with Pezeshkian in Moscow on Friday, Putin praised the deal as a “real breakthrough creating conditions for the stable and sustainable development of Russia, Iran and the entire region.” The Kremlin earlier said that the treaty will enhance the “military-political and trade-economic” relations between Tehran and Moscow,…

SIERRA Leone has recalled its ambassador from neighbouring Guinea after seven suitcases containing suspected cocaine were found in an embassy vehicle. On Monday, Guinean authorities impounded a vehicle belonging to Sierra Leone’s embassy and detained its occupants on suspicion of possessing “substances suspected to be cocaine”, Sierra Leone’s Foreign Minister Alhaji Musa Timothy Kabba said. “In light of this serious development, the government has urgently recalled Sierra Leone’s ambassador to Guinea, Ambassador Mr Alimamy Bangura, to Freetown to provide a full account of the incident,” he added. The recalled envoy was not in the car and is not under arrest,…

SOUTH Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has called for calm and urged citizens not to take the law into their own hands, following a spate of attacks on businesses and homes owned by people from neighbouring Sudan. Three people have been killed and seven were wounded in violent confrontations with security officers in the capital, Juba, and the north-western town of Aweil, say police. Their nationalities have not been disclosed. Three houses belonging to Sudanese nationals were set on fire in Aweil, according to officers. On Friday, a dusk-to-dawn curfew was announced to try to bring tensions under control. Nobody will…

AMAD Diallo scored a stunning late hat-trick as Manchester United turned what seemed certain to be a humiliating defeat into a thrilling victory over Southampton at Old Trafford. United appeared to be heading for a fourth consecutive top-flight home defeat for the first time since 1930 as they laboured badly trying to overcome a Southampton side who had won just once all season and suffered a 5-0 home loss to Brentford on their last league outing. But Diallo, a week after signing a new five-and-a-half-year contract, had other ideas. The Ivorian, moved into an attacking role from the wing-back position…

WHEN Samraa Luqman voted for Donald Trump in November, she believed that, even if there were a one-percent chance that the former president would push for a ceasefire in Gaza, he would be a better option than the Democrats who had failed to stop the war. Trump ultimately won that race and is slated to re-enter the White House on Monday. And in the lead-up to his inauguration, Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas have agreed to pause hostilities in Gaza, where more than 46,700 Palestinians have been killed in the last 15 months. But Luqman says she doesn’t feel…

CHINA’s population fell for the third consecutive year in 2024, as a demographic crisis continues to loom over the East Asian superpower. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported on Friday that the Chinese population fell by 1.39 million over the past 12 months to 1.408 billion as deaths continue to outpace births. China’s population has been steadily declining since the 1980s, but the year 2022 marked the first time deaths outpaced births since 1961 when China was in the midst of the disastrous Great Leap Forward plan, which led to a famine in which an estimated 20 million people…

TANZANIA has dismissed a World Health Organisation (WHO) report of a suspected new outbreak of the Ebola-like Marburg virus in the north-west of the country. On Tuesday, the global health agency said a total of nine suspected cases were reported over the last five days in the Kagera region, including eight deaths. But in a statement, Tanzania’s Health Minister Jenista Mhagama said after samples were analysed, all suspected cases were found negative for Marburg virus. She said that the country had strengthened its surveillance systems and disease monitoring. We “would like to assure the international organisations, including WHO that we…

THE US government has imposed sanctions on the head of Sudan’s army and de facto president, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the treasury department said. He has been leading one of the two sides in the 21-month civil war that has killed tens of thousands, uprooted over 12 million and pushed the country to the brink of famine. In a brief statement, the US accused Gen Burhan of “destabilizing Sudan and undermining the goal of a democratic transition”. The announcement follows reports of the killing of civilians in the central city of Wad Madani in recent days, however this was not…

ARSENAL moved to within four points of Premier League leaders Liverpool with victory over Tottenham in the north London derby at Emirates Stadium. The Gunners, who have played a game more than Liverpool, were desperate to return to winning ways after losing at home to Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg and then going out to Manchester United on penalties in the FA Cup third round. Arsenal suffered another setback when, totally against the run of play, Son Heung-min’s shot was deflected off William Saliba past keeper David Raya after 25 minutes. The response came from a…

PALESTINIANS in Gaza are celebrating after mediators confirmed a ceasefire deal has been reached between Hamas and Israel after 15 months of war. The truce is set to take effect on Sunday, January 19. Israeli forces, however, are continuing with their attacks across the Gaza Strip, killing at least 40 Palestinians in the enclave since the agreement was announced, according to media reports. Hamas official Izzat al-Risheq says the deal reached in the Qatari capital, Doha, meets all of the Palestinian group’s conditions, including the full withdrawal of Israeli forces, the return of displaced people to their homes and a…

UK treasury and anticorruption minister Tulip Siddiq has resigned over a flurry of media reporting about her links to corruption charges being faced by her aunt, the deposed Bangladeshi former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, as well as how properties Siddiq’s family owns in the UK were paid for. Following the general election in July, Prime Minister Keir Starmer awarded Siddiq, 42, the portfolio for financial services policy. Her responsibilities included implementing measures to combat money laundering. However, in a letter to Starmer on Tuesday, Siddiq said she was resigning from her position because the furore over her links to her…

THE World Health Organization (WHO) has raised concerns over a suspected outbreak of Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) in Tanzania, particularly in the Kagera region. The outbreak, which has claimed eight lives out of nine suspected cases, is causing significant worry due to its high fatality rate and the region’s strategic location as a transit hub. On 10 January 2025, WHO received credible reports of suspected MVD cases in Kagera. Initial reports revealed that six people were affected, and five had already died. The patients exhibited symptoms such as severe headaches, high fever, back pain, diarrhoea, vomiting blood, extreme weakness, and,…