A STATUE of Ghana’s immediate former President, Nana Akufo-Addo, put up at the end of last year has been destroyed. The unveiling by Akufo-Addo of his own likeness in November in the country’s Western Region sparked a social media backlash, as well as being mocked and described as “self-glorification”. Its launch had been in honour of the president’s development initiatives. On Monday, local media shared images showing the statue in a ruined state, with its severed head lying on the ground. It is not clear who had targeted the sculpture or what the motive was and the police have not…
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THE national electricity grid will remain prone to collapse due to the government’s inability to repair a crucial transmission line in northern Nigeria owing to persistent insecurity. This is according to the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, who spoke during the 2025 budget defense session with the Senate Joint Committee on Power. Adelabu highlighted the impact of the damaged Shiroro-Kaduna-Mando line, which has been out of service since a vandalism incident in October 2024. This failure has placed immense pressure on the grid, leading to frequent collapses. “The Kaduna-Shiroro-Mando line was one of the two major lines transmitting power to…
DISTURBING videos have emerged showing the dire situation at a disused gold mine in South Africa where scores of illegal miners have reportedly been living underground for months. They have been there since police operations targeting illicit mining started last year across the country. In one of the videos, which the BBC has not independently verified, corpses wrapped in makeshift body bags can be seen. A second shows the emaciated figures of some miners who are still alive. A long-delayed rescue operation, that last week a court ordered the government to facilitate, is continuing for a second day after beginning…
THE family of the former Leicester City owner killed in a helicopter crash have launched a £2.15 billion ($2.63 billion) legal claim against the manufacturers of the aircraft, it was announced Friday. Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and four others were killed when the Thai billionaire’s personal helicopter crashed shortly after taking off from the Premier League club’s King Power Stadium in October 2018. Srivaddhanaprabha’s family allege Leonardo S.p.A., which manufactured the helicopter, is liable for his death. They are now seeking £2.15bn in compensation for loss of earnings as a result of his death, the pain he experienced before he died, and…
MEDICAL sources told Al Jazeera that Israeli attacks killed at least 45 Palestinians across Gaza on Monday as Israel’s siege of northern Gaza crossed the 100-day mark. Despite the latest ceasefire push, Israel is continuing lethal attacks in Gaza, killing at least 11 people in raids across the enclave Monday. The latest attacks took place in a residential block in Gaza City, killing eight, and a home near Khan Younis, killing three. This is as a Hamas delegation says Gaza ceasefire talks are progressing well, according to a statement issued after a meeting with Qatar’s emir. Efforts are intensifying to…
SOUTH Korea’s constitutional court has held its first hearing to decide if suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol should be removed from office after his shock martial law attempt last month. It ended within four minutes because of Yoon’s absence – his lawyers had earlier said he would not attend for his own safety, as there is a warrant out for his arrest on seperate charges of insurrection. In December, Yoon was suspended after members of his own party voted with the opposition to impeach him. However he will only be formally removed from office if at least six of the…
GHANA’s government will investigate controversial plans to build a $400m (£330m) national cathedral, new President John Mahama has said. Pressure has been mounting on authorities to drop the project, which has divided opinions in a country experiencing an economic crisis. Former President Nana Akufo-Addo, whose party was voted out during December’s elections, had pledged to build the cathedral after crediting God for his party’s success in 2016. Akufo-Addo’s government said the cathedral would be privately funded, but $58m of taxpayers’ money has so far been spent on the project. There is nothing to show for this sum but a huge…
ALTAY Bayindir was Manchester United’s unlikely hero as the holders held out for over an hour a man down to knock Arsenal out the FA Cup on penalties after a feisty 1-1 draw at the Emirates on Sunday. United’s stand-in goalkeeper saved a penalty from Martin Odegaard in normal time and then denied Kai Havertz in the shootout as the wasteful Gunners had another day to forget in front of goal. Bruno Fernandes had fired the visitors into the lead early in the second half before Diogo Dalot was sent-off on the hour mark for a second bookable offence. Gabriel…
THE Israeli military siege on the northern Gaza Strip has left about 5,000 Palestinians dead or missing after 100 days of brutal attacks that have only intensified amid talks of a potential mediated agreement between Israel and Hamas. Another 9,500 Palestinians were injured as a result of the Israeli military operation in the north that was launched in early October, a medical source told Al Jazeera on Sunday. Gaza’s Government Media Office on Sunday described the Israeli siege as “the most horrific form of ethnic cleansing, displacement and destruction” that has affected hundreds of thousands in the war-ravaged area. Reporting…
A MAGNITUDE 6.2 earthquake rattled a region of southwest Mexico on Sunday, the US Geological Survey said, with dozens of casualties and massive properties damage. The tremor was centered eight kilometers (five miles) from Coalcoman de Vazquez Pallares, a municipality of around 20,000 people which is about 600 kilometers west of the capital Mexcio City. The quake struck at a depth of 86.2 kilometers. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on social media platform X that the national emergency services had reported “there are no new developments and are initiating review protocols” in Coalcoman. Mexico lies on five tectonic plates that…
NIGERIA has attracted $7.6bn in investment interests at the Africa Investment Forum 2024, held in Rabat, Morocco, from 4 to 6 December 2024. The announcement was made by the President of the African Development Bank, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, in a post on his X (formerly Twitter) account on Saturday. Adesina expressed optimism about the potential impact of the investment interests, highlighting the participation of several Nigerian state governors at the forum. “I am delighted the Africa Investment Forum 2024 mobilised $7.6bn of investment interest for Nigeria. It was great to have several State Governors: Lagos, Kaduna, Kastina, Kwara and Plateau,…
CHAD’s governing party has taken the majority of seats in last month’s parliamentary election that was mostly boycotted by opposition parties, according to provisional results. President Mahamat Idriss Deby’s party, the Patriotic Salvation Movement, has secured 124 of the 188 seats at the National Assembly, Ahmed Bartchiret, head of the electoral commission, announced late on Saturday. The participation rate was put at 51.56 percent, which opposition parties said showed voter doubts about the validity of the contest. The December 29 election was presented by Deby’s party as the last stage of the country’s transition to democracy after he took power…
JACK Grealish scored his first goal in more than a year and James McAtee hit a second-half hat-trick as Manchester City surged to their biggest win since January 2019 to knock League Two Salford out of the FA Cup. Grealish converted the 49th-minute spot-kick after he had been fouled, then exchanged a joke with routine penalty-taker Erling Haaland, who was on the bench after manager Pep Guardiola had chosen to leave out a number of big names for the third-round tie. The England man’s last goal came against Crystal Palace on 16 December 2023, and he has struggled for form…
AT least eight people have been killed in an Israeli attack on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in northern Gaza, as Israel sent several senior officials for talks on a potential ceasefire. An Israeli attack on Saturday hit the Zainab al-Wazir school in northern Gaza’s Jabalia al-Balad area, killing eight civilians, including two women and two children, according to the Palestinian civil emergency service. “The Israelis have targeted us without any prior warning,” a mother told Al Jazeera, as she searched through the debris. “They attacked us with a missile. I don’t know where our children are. I don’t know…
UKRAINE says it has captured two North Korean soldiers in Russia’s Kursk region and taken them to Kyiv, where investigators were questioning them. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the two prisoners of war were “communicating” with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the country’s domestic intelligence agency. “Russian forces and other North Korean military personnel usually execute their wounded to erase any evidence of North Korea’s involvement in the war,” Zelenskyy wrote on X on Saturday. Ukraine’s SBU said in a statement that one of the captured soldiers had no documents at all, while the other had been carrying a…
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…