Author: Editor

THE army in Sudan says it has captured a key city in the country’s east, one of its biggest gains yet in an almost two-year-long war against rebel forces. Footage on social media showed people celebrating in the streets as army soldiers entered the city of Wad Madani. The leader of paramilitary group the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, acknowledged the loss in an audio message. His admission was angry and rambling, attributing the defeat to the army’s air superiority and use of Iranian-made drones. But he vowed to continue fighting until victory,…

SIERRA Leone has reported its first confirmed case of mpox since the world’s highest alert level for the potentially deadly viral disease was raised last year. “The patient is a 27-year-old man from the rural district of the Western Zone,” near the capital Freetown, the National Public Health Agency stated in a social media post. “Health teams are actively tracing and investigating to identify potentially exposed persons and to prevent further spread,” it said. The agency added tests had confirmed the case on January 10 but did not specify the variant affecting the patient. Mpox is caused by a virus…

MANCHESTER City have agreed a 40m euros (£33.6m) deal with Lens for central defender, Abdulkadir Khusanov. Sources with knowledge of the deal say there are additional bonus payments attached to the sale, with the player due to undergo a medical before the transfer is officially confirmed. City manager Pep Guardiola has been determined to strengthen his squad after a difficult couple of months which has seen the defending Premier League champions slip to sixth in the table – and 12 points behind leaders Liverpool. The club are also in negotiations with Brazilian side Palmeiras for teenage defender Vitor Reis, although…

ISRAEL’s military said it attacked sites in Yemen controlled by Houthi fighters, including a power station near the capital Sanaa, and the ports of Hodeidah and Ras Isa. Also, several people have been killed in an Israeli air strike in Lebanon’s south with Israel’s military saying later that it was still “committed to the understanding of the ceasefire” with Lebanon. This newspaper understand that the concentration of attacks has pretty much been on the central areas. We have heard huge explosions shattering the silence of night at the Nuseirat refugee camp. We also have more emerging reports coming from the…

NOBEL Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai will attend an international summit on girls’ education hosted by her native Pakistan, where she was nearly killed by militants as a schoolgirl. Yousafzai was evacuated from the country in 2012 after being shot by the Pakistan Taliban, who were enraged by her activism, and she has returned to the country only a handful of times since. A spokesperson for the Malala Fund charity confirmed Yousafzai will appear in person at the summit, which will focus on education in Islamic nations. “I am excited to join Muslim leaders from around the world for a…

UGANDA’s army chief and son of President Yoweri Museveni, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, announced he was quitting X on Friday after a string of controversial posts including threatening to behead an opposition leader and invade neighbouring countries. Seen as the likely successor to his 80-year-old father, Kainerugaba built up more than a million followers on X, formerly Twitter, thanks to his notorious posts. Just this week, Kainerugaba, 50, said it was only the presence of his father that prevented him from murdering musician-turned-opposition leader Bobi Wine. “If Mzee was not there, I would cut off his head today,” Kainerugaba posted, using an…

SOUTH African police have rescued 26 migrants, believed to be from Ethiopia, who had been held captive in a house in Johannesburg. Fifteen were found naked inside the property while the 11 others – who had injuries – were located nearby. The discovery was made on Thursday evening in a north-eastern suburb of the city following a tip-off from neighbours, the police said. Three people have been arrested. It is not clear how the migrants ended up in South Africa but the authorities are investigating whether they were victims of trafficking. In a statement, the police said they had dismantled…

JUDGE Merchan has just given Trump his sentence – unconditional discharge on all 34 charges, as expected. “I wish you godspeed as you assume your second term in office,” he says. Merchan tells the court that he has determined that unconditional discharge is “the only lawful sentence, without encroaching upon the highest office of the land”. An unconditional discharge means Trump does not face any fines, probation or jail time. “Never before has this court been presented with such a unique and remarkable set of circumstances,” Merchan remarked. “The only lawful sentence that permits entry of a judgment of conviction…

JUDE Bellingham and Rodrygo struck to earn Real Madrid a 3-0 win over Real Mallorca on Thursday and set up a Spanish Super Cup final clash with rivals Barcelona. Madrid have the chance to earn revenge for their heavy Clasico defeat in La Liga in October after Bellingham’s clinical second-half strike sent them on their way to victory in Saudi Arabia. Backed heavily by fans in Jeddah Madrid never looked like letting the advantage slip and a stoppage-time own goal by Martin Valjent secured their win, with Rodrygo adding a late third from close range. Real Madrid made the early…

ISRAEL’s genocide in Gaza has killed at least 46,006 Palestinians and wounded 109,378 since October 7, 2023. At least 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks that day and more than 200 were taken captive. This is as The Polish government has adopted a resolution promising that senior Israeli officials – including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – can freely travel to Poland for the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp later this month. Netanyahu faces an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes in Israel’s war on…

TWO wildfires in the Los Angeles area have killed at least seven people and burned some 10,000 homes and structures, local officials have said, as a third blaze prompted the evacuation of thousands of more residents. The latest blaze, the Kenneth fire, broke out in West Hills, a neighbourhood in the San Fernando Valley, on Thursday afternoon as fire crews were still battling to bring the Palisades and Eaton fires under control. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the third fire was expected to spread rapidly due to high winds. The latest evacuation orders came as officials confirmed that the…

BURKINA Faso’s military leader Capt Ibrahim Traore sparked concern when he attended Tuesday’s inauguration of Ghana’s President John Mahama with a holstered pistol at his waist. Some have described this unusual move as a breach of security protocol. Others have seen it as a lack of trust in the ability of Ghanaian officials to protect the Burkinabe junta chief. It is not clear if Traore had permission to carry the weapon and the new Ghanaian government has not responded to a BBC request for comment. Mahama was sworn in after beating the candidate from the then governing party, Mahamudu Bawumia,…

BENIN forces have suffered heavy losses in an attack near the border with insurgency-hit Niger and Burkina Faso, authorities have said. Colonel Faizou Gomina, the national guard’s chief of staff, said one of Benin’s most well-equipped military positions had been hit in the north on Wednesday evening. “We’ve been dealt a very hard blow,” Col Gomina added. The country has in recent years witnessed increasing attacks in the northern region blamed on insurgent groups based in neighbouring countries. More than 120 Beninese military officers were killed between 2021 and December 2024, a diplomatic source told AFP news agency. Last month,…

NEYMAR said that the 2026 World Cup will be his last adding he was confident that Brazil would qualify for the finals in North America. “I know this will be my last World Cup, my last shot, my last chance and I will do everything I can to play in it,” the 32-year-old attacker, who has not played for Brazil in more than a year, told CNN. He also told the American news network in the interview published on Tuesday that he would not rule out reuniting with former Barcelona team-mates Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez at U.S. club Inter…

AT least 46 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza, as international mediators continued talks aimed at securing a truce and captives-for-prisoners exchange. Medical sources provided Al Jazeera with Wednesday’s death toll in Gaza as Israeli forces also conducted several raids across the occupied West Bank, killing three people. At least 45,936 people have been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian officials, with another 109,274 wounded since Israel began its war in the wake of the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas fighters on southern Israel. That attack killed at least 1,139 people, according to an Al Jazeera…

UNITED States officials have announced plans to release only part of a report detailing federal investigations into President-elect Donald Trump, following a court decision to block some of the findings. On Wednesday, the Department of Justice indicated that the published report would focus on Special Counsel Jack Smith’s probe into Trump’s efforts to undo the results of the 2020 election. It would not, however, delve into a second federal investigation that looked at Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents while out of office, following the end of his first term in 2021. The announcement means that certain insight into classified…

AT least 19 people have been killed in Chad where security forces said they had prevented an attempt by armed fighters to storm the presidential complex in the capital N’Djamena. At least 18 of a force of 24 armed men were killed in the failed assault on the president’s office on Wednesday evening, the government said, and one member of the security forces also died in the gun battles. “There were 18 dead and six injured” among the attackers “and we suffered one death and three injured, one of them seriously”, Chad’s foreign minister and government spokesman Abderaman Koulamallah said.…

THE US has accused the Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of committing genocide and imposed sanctions on its leader. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday said Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, was being punished for his role in “systematic” atrocities against the Sudanese people during the 20-month conflict. He said the RSF and allied militias were responsible for the murder of “men and boys – even infants”, as well as brutal sexual violence against women on ethnic grounds. The militias have also targeted fleeing civilians and murdered innocent people escaping the conflict, Blinken said. “Based…

ALEXANDER Isak’s rich goalscoring form continued as Newcastle United took control of their Carabao Cup semi-final with a superb first-leg win against Arsenal at Emirates Stadium. Newcastle have never won the competition but will make their second final in three seasons if they avoid defeat, or lose by a one-goal margin, in the second leg at St James’ Park on 5 February. Arsenal, second in the Premier League, started the tie as favourites, but have it all to do in the return fixture. Isak scored his 14th goal in 15 games to set Newcastle on the way to their seventh…

MANY women and young children have been reported killed in Israel’s latest attacks on Gaza, with nearly 50 people killed and dozens wounded in a single day as the overall death toll in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory pushes towards 46,000. Medical sources told Al Jazeera that at least 49 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli attacks since the early hours of Tuesday morning. The dead included at least five children killed by Israeli strikes on tents sheltering displaced people in al-Mawasi – a desolate coastal area in southern Gaza designated a “humanitarian safe zone” by the Israeli military. Despite hundreds…