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…
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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…
A NEW York appeals court judge on Tuesday rejected US President-elect Donald Trump’s request to delay this week’s sentencing in his hush-money case. Trump is scheduled to be sentenced on Friday after being convicted by a New York jury in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. Associate Justice Ellen Gesmer rejected arguments by Trump’s attorneys that the sentencing should be postponed while the president-elect appeals his conviction. Trump’s lawyers also claimed that the immunity from prosecution granted to a president should be extended to a president-elect…
SENEGAL and Chad have reacted strongly to remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron about African countries being ungrateful over France’s role in helping fight militant jihadist insurgencies. On Monday, Macron said that Sahel states “forgot” to thank France for its role, amid the continuing withdrawal of French troops from West African countries. He said no Sahelian nation would be a sovereign nation without France’s intervention that prevented them from falling under the control of militants. In response, Chad’s Foreign Minister Abderaman Koulamallah said Macron comments had revealed his contempt for Africa. “Chad expresses its deep concern following the remarks made…
PORT authorities in Ivory Coast have dismissed safety fears about a moored boat loaded with 20,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, which is the same compound that caused a catastrophic blast in Lebanon four years ago. Ammonium nitrate is commonly used as an agricultural fertiliser, but is also potentially explosive. Its presence in the waters off the busy city of Abidjan – home to more than six million people – has caused alarm among some residents. Part of this same cargo, which began its journey in Russia, ended up being dumped off the coast of England last year after it became…
FORMER Youth and Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung, says the cabals around President Bola Tinubu are more dangerous than the clique around former President Muhammadu Buhari. The former minister was a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Tuesday monitored by News Point Nigeria. Dalung, who was a minister during Buhari’s administration, said Buhari was a stranger in his government as members of the cabals took over the running of the administration. The ex-minister said while members of the cabals around Buhari were not too educated, the powerbrokers around Tinubu are sophisticated, ambitious, and educated, with sound knowledge of power…
THE Republic of Ghana has decided to suspend diplomatic relations with the so-called “sadr”. This decision was communicated in an official document from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration of the Republic of Ghana, addressed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates of the Kingdom of Morocco. The Republic of Ghana “has decided to immediately inform, through diplomatic channels, the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco, the African Union and the United Nations, of this position.” In the same official document, the Republic of Ghana expressed its support for the “good-faith efforts made by…
OUSMANE Dembele’s stoppage-time goal settled the French Champions Trophy on Sunday, giving Paris Saint-Germain a 1-0 win over Monaco in a fixture played in Doha. PSG’s troubles in front of goal this season have often cost them in the Champions League, and they were thwarted throughout this game by a combination of poor finishing and some fine saves by Monaco goalkeeper Philipp Koehn. However, it was ultimately a deserved victory for Luis Enrique’s team in Qatar, as PSG won the trophy — the French equivalent of a Super Cup or England’s Community Shield — for the 11th time in the…
THE Israeli military will withdraw completely from south Lebanon, United States envoy Amos Hochstein has said, despite recent reports that Israel is planning to maintain a permanent presence in the country. Hochstein’s statement on Monday came as Israel was withdrawing its forces from Naqoura in the western sector of the border, with the Lebanese army deploying in the area. “The Israeli military started its withdrawal from Naqoura, most of the western sector and back into Israel proper today, south of the Blue Line,” Hochstein told reporters in Beirut, referring to the unofficial border between the two countries. “These withdrawals will…
CANADA’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation on Monday, saying he will leave office as soon as the ruling Liberal party chooses a new leader after months of slumping polls and internal division. “I intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister, after the party selects its next leader,” Trudeau, who has been in power since 2015, told reporters in Ottawa following a protracted political crisis that saw top Liberal allies urge him to quit. It was not immediately clear how long Trudeau will remain in office as a caretaker premier. He said the Liberal leadership race will…
THREE Chinese nationals have been arrested with 12 gold bars and $800,000 (£650,000) in cash in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, officials say. The gold and money was hidden under the seats of the vehicle they were travelling in, according to Jean Jacques Purusi, the governor of South Kivu province. He said the operation to arrest the men had been kept secret after the recent release of another group of Chinese nationals accused of running an illegal gold mine in the area. Eastern DR Congo has abundant reserves of gold, diamonds and the minerals used to make batteries for mobile…
FIVE young Kenyan men – including a popular cartoonist – who went missing just before the Christmas holidays have been found alive, family members and rights groups say. Kenya has been gripped by a wave of disappearances, with the state-funded rights group saying that over 80 people have been abducted in the last six months. The abductions generally target government critics and are widely believed to be the work of security agents, although the authorities have not admitted responsibility. They began in June last year during nationwide anti-tax protests, but increased in December, when AI-generated photos of the president in…