AT least eight people have been killed, and dozens injured, after a freight train crashed into a public bus in Thailand’s capital. Flames engulfed the bus and nearby vehicles near an airport rail link station in the centre of Bangkok Saturday afternoon. The city’s emergency services Erawan Medical Center confirmed the number of deaths, while Bangkok police chief Urumporn Koondejsumrit told AFP news agency at least 35 people were injured. Speaking to reporters at the scene, Deputy Transport Minister Siripong Angkasakulkiat said that all the bodies were found on the bus. It was not yet clear how many people were…
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A NEW Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has caused scores of deaths has a “very high lethality rate” and no vaccine nor specific treatment, the country’s health minister warned Saturday. “The Bundibugyo strain has no vaccine, no specific treatment,” Kamba told a press briefing in Kinshasa. “This strain has a very high lethality rate which can reach 50 percent,” Samuel-Roger Kamba told a press briefing in Kinshasa. Earlier Saturday, ministry officials said the death toll had already reached 80, up from 65 initially reported the previous day. The strain has also claimed one life in neighbouring…
FOR many Nigerians living in South Africa, each new wave of xenophobic unrest revives an unsettling reality; the fear that their nationality alone could make them targets of mob violence, looting, or intimidation. Although attacks against foreign nationals in South Africa are not new, the recurring hostility towards Nigerians has continued to raise difficult questions about migration, economic frustration, and the fragile state of African solidarity decades after the end of apartheid. The attacks on Nigerians in South Africa can be traced back to the early 2000s, when xenophobic violence on the Cape Flats resulted in the deaths of two…
MANCHESTER United are in negotiations with Michael Carrick over a two-year deal to become head coach on a permanent basis. Senior United figures have decided former Red Devils midfielder Carrick is the right man to take over. At a news conference on Friday, the 44-year-old – who has been in caretaker charge since January – said there should be a resolution on his future “pretty soon”. An announcement before Sunday’s final home game of the season against Nottingham Forest is not being ruled out. The contract is likely to contain the option of an additional year. Asked directly about the…
AT least seven Palestinians have been killed and dozens injured in two Israeli air strikes on a residential building and a civilian vehicle in Gaza City, according to medical sources. The deaths on Friday come as Israel said it carried out a strike on Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the head of the armed wing of Hamas in Gaza. In a joint statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said they targeted “one of the architects” of the October 7 attacks. Their statement did not say whether Haddad was killed. Hamas has not commented, and Al Jazeera has…
UKRAINIAN President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says strikes targeting Russia’s oil industry and military production facilities are “entirely justified” after Moscow flattened an apartment block in Kyiv, killing at least 24 people. On Friday, Zelenskyy warned that Russia’s attacks would not go unpunished, saying he had discussed long-range strikes with senior military, security and intelligence officials, as a day of mourning was observed in Kyiv following Thursday’s attack on a nine-storey apartment block in the capital’s Darnytskyi district. Ukraine’s air force said the strike, which also killed three children, was part of Russia’s largest aerial assault on the country since the war…
NIGERIA has officially begun the implementation of a 30-day visa exemption for Rwandan nationals, in what the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) describes as a landmark move to strengthen diplomatic relations and promote intra-African mobility. “Nigeria implements 30-day visa exemption for Rwandan nationals,” a statement issued by the NIS Service Public Relations Officer, DCI Akinlabi Akinsola, on Friday, confirmed the policy shift The announcement follows President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s declaration at the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali, Rwanda, where he outlined the reciprocal arrangement aimed at easing travel between both countries. According to the statement, the decision also reflects Rwanda’s earlier…
AFRICA’s top health agency has declared an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern Ituri province. Around 246 cases and 65 deaths have been reported, mainly in the gold-mining towns of Mongwalu and Rwampara, said the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). Ugandan officials confirmed one case of imported Ebola from DR Congo on Friday, with the country’s health ministry stating that a 59-year-old male who died on Thursday had tested positive. Ebola was first discovered in 1976 in what is now DR Congo, and is thought to have spread from bats. This is the…
KYLIAN Mbappe will spearhead France at the World Cup after coach Didier Deschamps on Thursday announced his 26-man squad for this summer’s tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Deschamps, who guided France to World Cup glory in 2018 and will leave his role after the 2026 edition, included few surprises. “It’s a squad. Not necessarily the 26 best players. It’s about balance and how the team comes together,” Deschamps told French TV channel TF1. “The overriding and essential criterion (for selection) is a sporting one,” the 57-year-old later explained to journalists. Mbappe will likely captain the team from…
THE Israeli government has said it is taking the extraordinary step of suing The New York Times after the newspaper published an article detailing rape allegations by Palestinian detainees against Israeli forces. Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office made the announcement three days after the release of the article by longtime New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, which was based on the accounts of 14 male and female Palestinian victims. The report added to a growing body of evidence of systematic Israeli sexual abuse of Palestinian detainees, whose numbers have soared since October 7, 2023. That evidence has been documented by rights…
LATVIAN centre-right Prime Minister Evika Silina has announced her resignation, after the Progressives Party, her left-leaning coalition partner, pulled support from the government and left her without a majority. “I am resigning, but I am not giving up,” Silina, who has been prime minister since 2023, said in a televised statement on Thursday. Her resignation came days after Latvia’s Defence Minister Andris Spruds, from the Progressives Party, was forced to resign over the government’s handling of several incidents involving stray drones suspected to be from Ukraine crossing into Latvian territory. Silina said at the time that Spruds had lost her…
SOUTH Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa fired, on Thursday his social development minister, a leading member of his ANC party, after weeks of mounting corruption claims. Sisisi Tolashe is the second senior official in weeks to be pushed aside by the president on graft allegations after the national police chief was suspended last month. The case adds to a slew of corruption scandals eroding public trust in the ANC party, which took power at the end of apartheid in 1994 but has since shed support. Ramaphosa announced the dismissal of 66-year-old Tolashe, also president of the ANC’s influential Women’s League, in…
ELVIS Sitshela remains deeply unsettled by the sudden departure of his brother, Dumisani, to Russia in early 2026. Dumisani left in complete secrecy, without telling the family, until a shocking text arrived from an international number. “Hi, brother, I am in Russia now. It’s me, Dumisani,” recalled Elvis, who requested his real name be withheld for safety. “He was unemployed for a long time and tried to settle in South Africa, but it didn’t work out; he returned home last December. By January, he was gone,” Elvis said. Weeks later, the family received more troubling news: A neighbour who had…
MANCHESTER City comfortably beat Crystal Palace to move back to within two points of Premier League leaders Arsenal and ensure a tense title tussle continues into the final week of the season. Pep Guardiola’s side knew failure to win on Wednesday would have handed the Gunners an opportunity to clinch the title by beating Burnley on Monday, but this fascinating fight for the trophy looks like it’s going to the wire. With Saturday’s FA Cup final against Chelsea in mind, manager Guardiola gambled with his City team selection by making six changes and leaving out the attacking trio of Erling…
THE United Arab Emirates has denied that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made what his office described as a “secret visit” to the Gulf country during the US-Israel war on Iran. In a statement carried on Wednesday night by the state news agency, WAM, the UAE said “its relations with Israel are public and were established within the framework of the well-known and publicly declared Abraham Accords. These relations are not based on secrecy or clandestine arrangements”. “Therefore, any claims regarding undisclosed visits or arrangements are baseless unless issued by the relevant official authorities in the UAE,” the report said.…
RUSSIA has placed British former Defence Minister Ben Wallace on a wanted list in connection with an unspecified criminal investigation, according to the Russian Interior Ministry’s database cited by state media. State-run news agency TASS quoted an unnamed source in law enforcement as saying that the investigation was linked to “terrorism-related charges”. Wallace served as the UK’s defence minister from 2019 – before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 – until August 2023. He has continued to advocate boosting military support for Kyiv and condemned Russian aggression. In October last year, a regional Russian lawmaker called for…
GHANA says it will evacuate 300 citizens from South Africa following a recent wave of protests against foreign nationals. Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said in a post on X on Tuesday that the Ghanaian president had granted approval for their “immediate evacuation”. He said the “distressed” Ghanaians had registered at the country’s embassy in Pretoria to be rescued in response to an advisory by the foreign ministry “following the latest wave of xenophobic attacks”. Last week, South African authorities denied that anyone had been attacked, saying the widely circulated videos were fake. On Monday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa…
SOUTH African President Cyril Ramaphosa says he will legally challenge a report that has paved the way for parliament to consider impeachment proceedings against him over the theft of large sums of cash from his private farm. A Constitutional Court ruling last week found that parliament acted unconstitutionally when it voted against establishing an impeachment inquiry against Ramaphosa regarding the Phala Phala report in 2022. “I remain here and am not resigning,” Ramaphosa said on Monday, ending days of speculation over whether he would step down. The controversy stems from the so-called Phala Phala scandal, in which thousands of dollars…
JOSE Mourinho is in final negotiations to become Real Madrid’s next head coach, 13 years after his first spell at the Bernabeu. The 63-year-old is the clear favourite – and currently the only candidate Real are in talks with over the role. He would replace current head coach Alvaro Arbeloa, who only took charge in January following Xabi Alonso’s departure. Real Madrid president Florentino Perez first considered the possibility of Mourinho’s return two days after Xabi Alonso left the club, during initial conversations with the Portuguese coach’s representatives. Mourinho has been manager of Benfica, in his native Portugal, since joining…
US diplomat Mike Huckabee has revealed that Israel deployed Iron Dome batteries and “personnel to help operate them” to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to help fend off Iranian attacks. The United States ambassador to Israel heaped praise on the UAE during an event in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, saying that Abu Dhabi serves as an “example” of strong ties between Israel and Gulf states. “They were the first Abraham Accord member,” he said, referring to the agreements that established formal relations between Israel and several Arab countries in 2020. “But look at the benefits that they have had as…