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AN Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza killed five children on Sunday, according to official Palestinian news agency WAFA and media affiliated with Hamas. A group of children were playing near a cafe in the Al-Shati area when they were killed by a drone strike, according to WAFA, which cited local sources. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the report. This is as Israeli forces killed at least 44 Palestinians across Gaza since dawn on Monday. Meanwhile, a Palestinian envoy accuses Israel of using humanitarian aid as a “weapon of war” during International Court of Justice (ICJ) hearings as…

SENIOR diplomats from the BRICS grouping of nations gathered Monday in Brazil to present a united front in the face of US President Donald Trump’s aggressive trade policies. The meeting comes at a critical moment for the world economy after the International Monetary Fund this week slashed growth forecasts over the impact of the American leader’s sweeping new tariffs. Foreign ministers from the ten-member trading bloc — which includes current-chair Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — will hold two days of talks in Rio de Janeiro, as a precursor to a July leaders summit. Ahead of the gathering,…

THE Russian Federation has pledged stronger military cooperation with Nigeria in its ongoing fight against terrorism, offering weapons, operational support, and strategic expertise to bolster the country’s counterinsurgency operations. Speaking on behalf of President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Minister of Defence, Lt Gen Averianov emphasized Russia’s readiness to deepen defence cooperation with Nigeria, describing the West African country as a major regional power and critical partner. He noted that Russia, engaged in special operations against 39 adversary nations, had developed new counterterrorism strategies it was eager to share with Nigeria. A statement on Monday by the Director, Defence Media…

AT least 68 African migrants have been killed in a US air strike on a detention centre in Houthi-controlled north-western Yemen, the armed group’s TV channel says. Al Masirah reported that another 47 migrants were injured, most of them critically, when the centre in Saada province was bombed. It posted graphic footage showing multiple bodies covered in the rubble of a destroyed building. A US defence official said the US military’s Central Command was aware of the claims of civilian casualties. The strike came hours after Central Command announced its forces had hit more than 800 targets since President Donald…

LIVERPOOL drew level with Manchester United on 20 top-flight titles when they were crowned 2024-25 Premier League champions. The clubs share top spot for most league titles in England. Eighteen of Liverpool’s 20 championships were won before 1992, when the Premier League replaced the First Division as England’s top league. At the time, Manchester United had won seven compared to Liverpool’s 18. The Reds’ dominant era came in the 70s and 80s, with 11 titles from 1973 to 1990. All 13 of Manchester United’s Premier Leagues came under the management of Sir Alex Ferguson – the first in 1993 and…

ISRAEL has carried out an air attack on the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, sending huge plumes of smoke into the sky. This is also as Israeli forces intensify attacks across the Gaza Stip, killing at least 50 Palestinians since dawn on Sunday. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the air strike and called for France and the United States, guarantors of the November 27 ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, to compel Israel to halt its attacks. Israel has violated that truce multiple times in recent months and weeks with attacks on the capital and across southern Lebanon. Aoun said…

THERE can never be a place for racism and hate in France, President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday after the brutal stabbing to death of a Muslim in a mosque in the south of the country. “Racism and hatred based on religion can have no place in France. Freedom of worship cannot be violated,” Macron wrote on X in his first comments on Friday’s killing, extending his support to “our fellow Muslim citizens”. The attacker, who is on the run, stabbed the worshipper dozens of times and then filmed him with a mobile phone while shouting insults at Islam in…

NAMIBIA’s president has dismissed the southern African country’s agriculture minister, who Namibian media have reported is under investigation for alleged rape, her office said on Sunday. A police spokesperson has confirmed the ongoing investigation into Mac Hengari to the Namibian press, which has reported that a minor has accused the agriculture minister of raping her. “President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has relieved Hon. Dr. Mac-Albert Hengari of his duties as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform,” the president’s office said in a statement shared on social media. “The termination of tenure takes effect from Wednesday, 23 April 2025 when Hon.…

A SENIOR figure from South Africa’s ruling ANC party has defended his country’s sovereignty amid growing tensions with the US over race relations and a new land law. “We are a free country, we’re a sovereign country. We’re not a province of the United States and that sovereignty will be defended,” ANC National Chair Gwede Mantashe said on Sunday. US President Donald Trump has hit out at South Africa’s new expropriation law, signing an executive order in February stating it was a means to which the government could “seize ethnic minority Afrikaners’ agricultural property without compensation”. President Cyril Ramaphosa says…

AS they walked through arrivals at Manchester Airport, a couple seemed to be behaving oddly towards their baby. Something did not sit right with Border Force officers. One worried the relationship between the three was “not genuine”. Officers pulled the couple for questioning. The man, Raphael Ossai, claimed to be the girl’s father. He handed them a birth certificate for the baby, which showed his travelling companion, Oluwakemi Olasanoye, as the child’s mother. But officers found a second birth certificate, hidden in the lining of the couple’s luggage. It named another woman, Raphael’s British wife, as the little girl’s mother.…

BARCELONA edged Real Madrid 3-2 after extra time, with Jules Kounde’s late strike sealing victory in a thrilling 2025 Copa del Rey final on Saturday in Seville. The Catalans, aiming for a quadruple this season, won the first major trophy of Hansi Flick’s reign as coach and a record-extending 32nd Spanish Cup dramatically. Pedri sent Barcelona ahead at La Cartuja, but two Real Madrid goals in seven second-half minutes, from Kylian Mbappe and Aurelien Tchouameni, pulled the Spanish and European champions level. However, Ferran Torres struck in the 84th minute to take the game to extra time, and Kounde drilled…

A POWERFUL explosion ripped through a key port in southern Iran on Saturday, killing four people and injuring more than 500, state media said, with the cause of the blast not immediately clear. The customs office at the port said in a statement carried by state TV that it probably resulted from a fire that broke out at the hazmat and chemical materials storage depot. State media reported a “massive explosion” at Shahid Rajaee, the country’s largest commercial port, located in Hormozgan province on Iran’s southern coast. Citing local emergency services, state television reported that “500 people have been injured,…

US President Donald Trump cast doubt on whether Russian leader Vladimir Putin wants a peace deal, shortly after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the hush of St Peter’s Basilica before Pope Francis’s funeral Saturday. Zelensky said they had discussed a possible unconditional ceasefire with Russia and was “hoping for results” from a “very symbolic meeting that has the potential to become historic”. This was the two leaders’ first meeting since a noisy White House clash in February, and after leaving Rome, Trump indicated a new approach to the Russian president. “There was no reason for Putin to be shooting…

UGANDA declared the end of an Ebola virus outbreak Saturday, which has killed at least two people in the East African nation since late January. The announcement came 42 days after the discharge of the last confirmed patient from hospital. The outbreak marked the sixth time Uganda was affected by the deadly virus that has six different strains, three of which have caused major epidemics. “During this outbreak, 14 cases, 12 confirmed and two not confirmed through laboratory tests (probable), were reported. Four deaths, two confirmed and two probable, occurred. Ten people recovered from the infection,” The World Health Organization…

RWANDA and the Democratic Republic of Congo have signed an agreement to respect each other’s sovereignty and come up with a draft peace deal by 2 May. The deal was signed by the two countries’ foreign ministers in Washington, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also present at Friday’s ceremony. Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been displaced in recent months as Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have seized swathes of mineral-rich territory in eastern DR Congo. After losing territory, the government in Kinshasa turned to the US for help in exchange for access to the minerals.Rwanda and the Democratic Republic…

REAL Madrid have reacted angrily to a news conference where the referee for Saturday’s Copa del Rey final broke down in tears at the pressure the club’s TV channel has put officials under. However, they denied reports they were considering pulling out of Saturday’s Clasico encounter against Barcelona in Seville (21:00 BST kick-off). Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea, who will referee the game, become the latest official to be attacked on Real Madrid TV this season. A club video pointed out the win percentages of Barca and Real when the Spaniard has taken charge of their games, the fact he has…

THE UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) says its food stocks in Gaza are completely depleted, as Israel’s aid blockade continues for an eighth week. In a statement on Friday, the WFP confirmed it had “delivered its last remaining food stocks” in Gaza to local kitchens, which it anticipates will run out of food entirely “in the coming days”. More than 400,000 people in Gaza rely on WFP aid, leaving them with little recourse if this lifeline fails, the organisation’s Palestine representative Antoine Renard told Al Jazeera. “We [local NGOs] are all running short,” he said. “We are being depleted.” Since…

US President Donald Trump has said Russia and Ukraine “are very close to a deal”, hours after his envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks in Moscow. Trump said it had been a “good day” of negotiations, while the Kremlin described the talks – which Ukraine was not present at – as “constructive”. Earlier, Trump said on social media that “most of the major points are agreed to,” and urged Russia and Ukraine to meet “at very high levels” and “to finish it [the deal] off”. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his video address late…

SUDANESE people are eating leaves and charcoal to survive after fleeing an attack on a camp for displaced people near the city of el-Fasher, an aid agency has told the BBC. “The stories we’ve been hearing are truly horrific,” Noah Taylor, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s head of operations, told the BBC’s Newsday programme. People are fleeing el-Fasher for Tawila, but are dying “on arrival,” Mr Taylor added. He said that some were “dying of thirst”, whilst making the 40km (25 mile) journey from Zamzam camp in “blistering” temperatures. “We’ve heard stories there are still bodies on the road between el-Fasher…

A RWANDAN beekeeper living in the US has been arrested over his alleged involvement in the 1994 genocide in his country. Faustin Nsabumukunzi is accused of committing “heinous acts of violence abroad” when he served as a local leader at the start of genocide, the Justice Department said. The 65-year-old suspect was also charged with visa fraud and attempted naturalisation fraud when he moved to the US in 2003. He pleaded not guilty to the charges and was released on bail. “Nsabumukunzi repeatedly lied to conceal his involvement in the horrific Rwandan genocide while seeking to become a lawful permanent…