BY Tuesday next week, all African migrants in South Africa should be back to their home countries. According to popular opinion of those behind the migrants-must-go campaign in South Africa, African migrants are the cause of all their woes, be it political, spiritual, or economical. To show that they mean business, they have also promulgated that migrants can no longer walk free on the streets of South African cities. Or at least most of them. Many migrants have reportedly been harassed, their businesses looted, and some have paid the supreme price by being killed by their fellow African brothers. Even…
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IRAN warned the United States on Sunday to “be careful” after President Donald Trump threatened to strike the Islamic republic over its support for Hezbollah, even as the arch-foes held talks in Switzerland seeking a deal to permanently end the Middle East war. The negotiations to end a war that sowed chaos across the Middle East and rattled the global economy are meant to trigger a 60-day period to settle broader issues that have dogged US-Iranian relations for decades. But disagreement over key sticking points and the threat of renewed fighting in Lebanon weighed on the talks, with Washington and…
KING Charles III will reveal his personal tax bill in a bid to improve transparency, Buckingham Palace told UK media on Saturday, as royal finances come under increasing public scrutiny. British monarchs are legally exempt from paying certain taxes, though they have paid some duties on a voluntary basis for decades. They also have no obligation to disclose their tax bills, but recent scandals surrounding the disgraced former Prince Andrew have thrust the royal family’s finances into the spotlight. Charles will become the first monarch to share his personal tax information, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson told the Press Association. “The…
ETHIOPIAN Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is the big winner following the country’s general election as his party has retained its overwhelming parliamentary majority, despite the poll being overshadowed by conflict, accusations of repression and little participation by opposition parties. The Prosperity Party, which won 438 of the 501 contested seats, will form the new government with Abiy set to be sworn in for another term at the beginning of October. It is a boon for Abiy’s supporters, who believe he will continue with the economic gains he has overseen. But others fear the internal divisions and security challenges facing Africa’s…
FRESH efforts to restore diplomatic and economic relations between Niger and Benin gathered momentum over the weekend as senior officials from both countries held high-level discussions in Cotonou aimed at accelerating the normalisation of ties. The talks followed a visit to Niger earlier this month by Benin’s new president, a move widely seen as a significant step toward rebuilding relations between the neighbouring West African nations after years of strained diplomatic engagement. News Point Nigeria reports that relations between Niger and Benin have remained tense since the military seized power in Niger in July 2023 and subsequently closed the country’s…
ISRAELI strikes in Lebanon have killed at least 32 people despite a ceasefire being in place, with the violence threatening to derail talks between the United States and Iran aimed at cementing a fragile peace process. Follow-up talks between Iran and the US on the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed this week will be held in Burgenstock, Switzerland, on Sunday, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said on Saturday. US and Iranian representatives will participate, along with mediators from Pakistan and Qatar, it added. But ongoing Israeli air raids and drone attacks in southern Lebanon, which continued even after a renewed ceasefire between…
RUSSIAN forces have attacked the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia with glide bombs, killing five people, Regional Governor Ivan Fedorov said. In a post on Telegram on Saturday, Fedorov said that Russian air strikes had injured 11 people, and the number was rising after the attack destroyed and damaged residential and non-residential buildings. “Specialists from the district state administration are working at the sites to document the destruction, and utility workers are eliminating the consequences of the attack,” he added. In recent weeks, Russia and Ukraine have escalated attacks as talks to end the conflict remain at a standstill. On Saturday…
A SIX-MONTH-GIRL girl was buried in Bunia on Friday, another victim of the DRC’s Ebola outbreak. Her tiny coffin offering a stark reminder of the severity of the epidemic, which continues to spread in Ituri province. Mourners gathered in Bunia on Friday to bury a six-month-old girl who died from Ebola earlier this week, the third child to die of the disease at an orphanage in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They stood at a distance as the small coffin was lowered into the ground at the Bigo Cemetery in Bunia by Red Cross health workers, while a Catholic…
A VIETNAMESE national deported to South Sudan by the Trump administration under its controversial third-country deportation program was repatriated to Vietnam on Friday after spending more than a year in detention. South Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the repatriation of 44-year-old Tuan Phan at a news briefing in Juba on Friday. Phan and seven other men were sent to Africa in May 2025, rerouted first to a U.S. military base in Djibouti after a federal judge blocked their deportation to South Sudan midflight, citing procedural irregularities. They arrived in Juba, South Sudan’s capital, aboard a military aircraft in July…
THE Iranian football federation said Thursday it will lodge a complaint with FIFA claiming its team is being subjected to travel restrictions during the World Cup in North America. Iran wanted to fly from their base camp in Tijuana, Mexico, to the United States two days before their next match, against Belgium in Los Angeles on Sunday. But a spokesman for the Iranian federation said its request was turned down. “Despite having submitted its preparation schedule for the tournament well in advance, Iran’s national football team has once again encountered restrictions imposed by the organizers, affecting the implementation of its…
ISRAEL and Hezbollah agreed a ceasefire on Friday, a US official said, after deadly exchanges between the two sides in Lebanon put a deal to end the Middle East war under strain, less than two days after it was signed. Talks that were scheduled to take place between the US and Iran in Switzerland on Friday to build on the deal and work towards a lasting settlement were postponed amid the fighting, with no new date announced. Tehran’s top negotiator warned it would not bend on its red lines and that its finger was still “on the trigger”, even as…
THE H5N1 strain of bird flu has for the first time been found in Australia, the country’s agriculture ministry confirmed. It means the highly contagious variant has now reached every continent. The disease was found in a migratory seabird, a brown skua, in remote Western Australia, Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said on Saturday. The bird was found on a beach at the Cape Le Grand National Park near the town of Esperance, about 700km (434 mi) south-east of Perth, according to local media. Australia was previously the only continent where the H5N1 bird flu strain had not been found. The…
THE Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention says Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo have recorded 894 confirmed cases and 204 deaths from Ebola. Speaking during a webinar on Friday, Wessam Mankoula, acting head of the emergency preparedness and response division of the centre, said 74 recoveries were reported in the first month since the declaration on May 15. Mankoula added that Uganda’s situation remains unchanged, with 19 cases, two deaths for a 10.5 percent case fatality rate, seven recoveries, and 100 percent contact listing, all confined to one health zone in Kampala. He said the DRC was…
THE US government says it will stop funding programmes in South Africa intended to tackle the spread of HIV and Aids. More than eight million South Africans are living with HIV – the highest number of any country in the world. The US State Department appeared to link the decision to South Africa’s alleged failure to protect the white-minority Afrikaner community – an allegation the South African government has repeatedly rejected. South Africa’s health ministry responded by saying that though it had not been informed of this decision, it had “long been working on a self-reliance plan”. Until 2025, the…
ARSENAL will begin their Premier League title defence against promoted side, Coventry, on August 21. The Premier League fixtures for the 2026-27 campaign were released on Friday, with the Gunners’ home game against Frank Lampard’s Coventry among the highlights in the opening round of matches.Coventry are back in the top-flight for the first time in 25 years after winning the Championship last season. Andoni Iraola’s first Premier League game as Liverpool manager will be at Newcastle on August 23. Manchester City start life after Pep Guardiola at home to Bournemouth on August 23. City are expected to appoint former Chelsea…
SUPER Eagles head coach Eric Chelle has insisted that earning a place in the Nigeria national team has become increasingly difficult, citing the depth of quality and fierce competition for positions across every department of the squad. News Point Nigeria Sport reports that according to the Franco-Malian tactician, any player hoping to break into the Super Eagles setup must be prepared to outperform a host of established internationals already occupying key positions, regardless of where they play on the pitch. “It’s very difficult to enter in that national team. If you see all the positions, you want to play in…
SOUTH Africa kept their World Cup qualification hopes alive after a late penalty from Teboho Mokoena earned Bafana Bafana a hard-fought draw against the Czech Republic, while substitute Johan Manzambi scored twice as Switzerland powered to a commanding 4-1 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the Group A encounter, South Africa found themselves behind after just five minutes and seven seconds when Michal Sadilek latched onto a clever lay-off and rifled home the earliest goal of the tournament so far. Having also conceded early against Mexico in their opening match, Bafana Bafana gradually settled into the contest and slowed the…
CO-HOSTS Mexico became the first nation to secure a place in the knockout stages of the 2026 FIFA World Cup after edging past South Korea, while Canada recorded their first-ever World Cup finals victory with a commanding 6-0 win over nine-man Qatar in a match overshadowed by a serious injury to midfielder Ismael Kone. Mexico continued their impressive start to the tournament with a narrow victory over South Korea in Guadalajara, extending their 100 per cent record and confirming their place in the last 32 as winners of Group A. The decisive moment came five minutes into the second half…
IRAN’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, said on Thursday that he had approved despite reservations a deal signed by President Donald Trump to end the Middle East war as the US lifted a blockade of Iranian ports. The signing of the deal by Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian set in motion 60 days for talks on wider issues between the two foes, including the Iranian nuclear programme. But there was uncertainty over the next steps, and it remained unclear if the two sides, who have had no diplomatic relations following the 1979 Islamic revolution, would hold a signing ceremony…
UKRAINIAN drones have hit a Moscow oil refinery for the second time this week while Russia fired missiles at Kyiv, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy seeks support from the United States and Europe to reach a deal to end the war. Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Thursday that its air defences shot down 555 Ukrainian drones over several regions overnight, with almost 200 intercepted as they were approaching the Russian capital. Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said several drones hit an oil refinery. “Air defence forces continue to repel a massive attack. Several drones managed to reach the Moscow oil refinery,” Sobyanin…