SOUTH African prosecutors say they will not pursue criminal charges against President Cyril Ramaphosa in relation to the controversial farm theft scandal that nearly brought down the president two years ago. A former spy chief laid a criminal complaint against Ramaphosa, accusing him of committing irregularities in trying to hide the theft of $4m (£3.25m) in cash at his game farm in the north-eastern Limpopo province. The president denied any wrongdoing, saying that the money stolen from his sofa in 2020 came from the legitimate sale of buffaloes at his Phala Phala farm. The decision not to bring any charges…
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BUKAYO Saka suffered an injury to his right leg during England’s 2-1 loss to Greece at Wembley on Thursday. The Arsenal forward was replaced in the 51st minute by Chelsea winger Noni Madueke. Saka, 23, was seen stretching and holding the back of his right leg before eventually sitting on the turf after Greece opened the scoring through Vangelis Pavlidis. England interim head coach Lee Carsley said: “He’s being assessed. Obviously in the build-up to the first goal, you can see he felt something in his leg.” The Three Lions were without injured duo Harry Kane and Jack Grealish for…
THE Palestinian Red Crescent said an Israeli air strike on a Gaza school killed at least 28 people Thursday, while the Israeli military reported it struck a Hamas command centre. “Palestine Red Crescent teams responded to 28 fatalities and 54 injuries following the Israeli occupation army’s targeting of Rafida School,” the organisation said, referring to a school in Deir el-Balah. Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry issued the same death toll in a statement. The Israeli army said in a statement the strike targeted Palestinian combatants operating from a command-and-control centre “embedded inside a compound that previously served as the (Rafida) School”.…
CATHERINE, Princess of Wales and Prince William on Thursday made their first joint public engagement since she ended a course of chemotherapy for cancer, Kensington Palace announced. The couple visited Southport in northwest England, “to show support to the community and hear how local people have come together as the town recovers” from a July knife attack that killed three children, the palace said. The princess, better kalso known as Kate, and William met members of the emergency services who attended after the stabbing spree at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class, which also left eight children and two adults wounded.…
AWAY from the bustling corridors of Bahri Hospital, the only functioning hospital left in Sudan’s city of Khartoum North, Alsuna Issa sits perched on the edge of a small cot next to her toddler son in a patient room. The young boy, Jaber, dressed in distressed jeans and a Spiderman t-shirt that grazes his enlarged belly, is malnourished. Under the whirring fans of the hospital, patients in similar situations wait their turn, hoping to be attended to in a country reeling from more than 18 months of fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The hospital…
THE leaders of Egypt, Somalia and Eritrea – countries which all have strained relations with Ethiopia – have been meeting in the Eritrean capital, Asmara. An Eritrean statement wrapping up the summit made reference to “respect for the sovereignty… and territorial integrity of the countries in the region”. This could be taken as a pointed reference to landlocked Ethiopia’s ambitions for access to a sea port, but the country was not specifically mentioned. A recent diplomatic disagreement has pushed Somalia into closer ties with Egypt and Eritrea, both of which have long-standing disputes with Ethiopia. There have been fears that…
MANCHESTER United held a monthly board meeting in central London on Tuesday which the BBC reported as being significant in determining the immediate future of United manager Erik ten Hag. The meeting lasted around six hours, with footage of co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe arriving and leaving published by some media. After the big build-up, silence. We don’t know the outcome because no-one is saying. Why? First, the context. Last summer, United took just over two weeks from their FA Cup final win over Manchester City to confirm Ten Hag would continue in his job, after days of speculation before and…
ISRAELI forces killed at least 64 Palestinians in Gaza on Wednesday, most of them in the north, where a six-day siege has forced the United Nations to shut down schools-turned-shelters, as well as hospitals. In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces shot and killed at least four Palestinians in what the governor of Nablus called “a cowardly and deliberate assassination”. AlJazeera reports one strike just after midnight in Haret Hreik, which is in the southern suburbs of Beirut. The Israeli army did issue a warning just beforehand, saying that they would target a building that was close to Hezbollah facilities.…
HURRICANE Milton struck Florida in the United States as a Category 3 storm, after weakening from a Category 5 storm on Wednesday morning. It has since been downgraded to a Category 2. US President Joe Biden warned it is expected to be one of the “most and worst destructive hurricanes to hit Florida in over a century”. The hurricane blew ashore near the coastal community of Siesta Key, south of the densely populated Tampa Bay metropolitan area, less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene battered the state. The area has not suffered a direct hurricane strike in more than 100…
A RWANDAN YouTuber has been sentenced to seven years in prison for breaching the country’s laws on genocide denial. Rashid Hakuzimana, who was arrested in 2021, denied all the charges, which also included inciting ethnic division and spreading false information for claiming that anyone who dares to challenge President Paul Kagame in elections is jailed. During the trial, he told the court that it was criticism of the government in his popular YouTube videos that was the real reason for his arrest. Under Rwandan law, it is a crime to deny, downplay or to attempt to justify the genocide, in…
MOZAMBICANS are voting in a general election, with the ruling Frelimo party that has been in power for half a century likely to hold on to power. President Filipe Nyusi, who is stepping down after serving the two-term limit, was among the first to vote when polls opened at 07:00 local time (05:00 GMT). The ruling party’s presidential candidate is 47-year-old Daniel Chapo, a relatively unknown figure until his nomination who presents himself as an agent of change. His rivals are independent Venâncio Mondlane, Ossufo Momade, a former rebel commander and leader of the main opposition Renamo party, and Lutero…
SPAIN World Cup winner Andres Iniesta has retired from playing at the age of 40. Iniesta is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in history, thanks in part to the midfield partnerships he formed with Xavi Hernandez and Sergio Busquets for Spain and Barcelona. He earned 131 caps for his country, scoring the winning goal in the 2010 Fifa World Cup final and winning the European Championship in 2008 and 2012. Speaking at an event in Barcelona, a visibly emotional Iniesta said he planned to go into coaching. “Being on the pitch is over,” he said. “I can’t…
LEBANESE state-run media report “massive destruction” after overnight Israeli air strikes destroyed four residential buildings in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh. This is as Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Lebanon that it could face destruction “like Gaza” as the Lebanese Health Ministry said on Tuesday that 36 people were killed and 150 injured across the country in the previous day. Though the Lebanese armed group said on Telegram that its fighters launched artillery and rockets at invading Israeli troops in southwest Lebanon. The attacks in the Labbouneh area forced the Israeli troops to retreat, the group said.…
THE Mexican government has revealed new details in the grisly murder of a mayor, Alejandro Arcos, who was found decapitated over the weekend. Arcos’s murder came nearly a week after President Claudia Sheinbaum took office, ramping up pressure on her administration to tamp down on cartel-related violence in the country. On Tuesday, Security Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch told reporters that Arcos, a prominent opposition figure, had not requested any security escorts on the day of his killing. “The mayor was going to Petaquillas for a meeting alone,” Garcia Harfuch said, referring to a town in the coastal state of Guerrero.…
KENYAN Lawmakers have voted overwhelming in favour of removing the country’s deputy president over accusations of corruption. Lawmakers also accuse Rigathi Gachagua of practising ethnically divisive politics and undermining the government. Gachagua denies any wrongdoing in a row that follows his recent fallout with President William Ruto. On Tuesday evening, Speaker Moses Wetangula announced that 281 MPs had adopted an 11-charge impeachment motion with 44 MPs voting against and one abstaining. It means Gachagua has become the first Kenyan deputy president to be impeached by the National Assembly – the country’s Senate will decide if he gets ousted. He is…
THE UK has offered dozens of stranded African migrants, held for years in a camp on a secretive UK-US military island in the Indian Ocean, a temporary move to Romania. After six months, they could be moved to the UK. Others in the group are being offered financial incentives to go to Sri Lanka where they say they face persecution, the BBC has learned. In 2021, dozens of Tamils became the first people ever to claim asylum on Diego Garcia after their boat ran into trouble. The territory’s unusual status led to a long legal dispute, with the UK government…
VICTOR Osimhen says he is enjoying life in his new home in Istanbul, where he is playing for Galatasaray on a season-long loan from Napoli, The PUNCH reports. The former Sporting Charleroi player was met with thousands of enthusiastic Galatasaray fans who thronged the Istanbul Airport, Turkey, to welcome him as he arrived in the country at 3:30 am to complete his loan move. Osimhen reciprocated the fans’ love by changing his bio while immediately deleting all traces of his parent club, Napoli, from his social media page and flaunted pictures and colours of Galatasaray. Osimhen’s updated bio now reads,…
ISRAEL’s military said that Lebanese armed group Hezbollah had fired some 135 projectiles missiles into Israel on Monday, as the country marked the first anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack. “As of 17:00 (14:00 GMT Monday), approximately 135 projectiles fired by the Hezbollah terrorist organisation crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory,” the military said in a statement, as air raid sirens sounded frequently across northern Israel. This is as Israel began its commemorations Monday of the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s deadly October 7 attack, with an outpouring of emotion at vigils at massacre sites and rallies calling for the…
A US judge on Monday ordered Google to open its Android smartphone operating system to rival app stores, in a fresh legal setback for the tech giant. The order is the result of Google’s defeat in an antitrust case brought by Fortnite-maker Epic Games, where a California jury decided that Google wields illegal monopoly power through its Android Play store. The San Francisco jury in December took just a few hours to decide against Google, finding that the company had embarked on various illegal strategies to maintain its app store monopoly on Android phones. The order, which Google is appealing,…
ETHIOPIA’s parliament has approved the appointment of a new president to replace the country’s first female head of state, Sahle-Work Zewde. Taye Astike Selassie, foreign minister since February, has taken up the largely ceremonial role. In Ethiopia, political power lies with the prime minister – currently Abiy Ahmed. Sahle-Work had reportedly fallen out with Abiy in recent years. The prime minister’s backing of her initial appointment in 2018 was hailed as a breakthrough for gender equality in Ethiopian politics. On Saturday, Sahle-Work posted a brief and somewhat cryptic message on X, implying she was unhappy as a result of staying…