A FRESH global oil crisis appears to be looming as Iran once again closed the strategic Strait of Hormuz following escalating tensions over a United States naval blockade, raising fears of disruption to global energy supplies and renewed instability in international markets. Iran’s military announced on Saturday that the Strait of Hormuz had been shut again, only hours after it was briefly reopened, even as several commercial vessels abandoned attempts to pass through the crucial maritime corridor. The back-and-forth developments surrounding the strait cast fresh doubt on the optimism expressed by Donald Trump a day earlier, when he suggested that…
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MANCHESTER United head coach Michael Carrick says no decision has been made on the future of forward Marcus Rashford for next season. The 28-year-old is on a season-long loan at Spanish club Barcelona after falling out of favour at Old Trafford. Barcelona have until 15 June to decide whether to trigger their €30m (£26.1m) option to buy Rashford, with the Old Trafford hierarchy resistant to any attempt to change the terms of the deal. Rashford, who is likely to be part of Thomas Tuchel’s squad for this summer’s World Cup, has not closed the door on returning to his boyhood…
IRAN has said the Strait of Hormuz is “completely open” for all commercial vessels and will remain so during the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire, as United States President Donald Trump said an agreement to end the US-Israeli war on Iran was “very close”. “In line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a post on X on Friday. A 10-day ceasefire was agreed upon between Israel and Lebanon late on Thursday, though it was unclear whether the…
OVER 38,000 women and girls were killed in the Gaza war by the end of 2025, the UN estimated Friday, amounting to over half of the 71,000 deaths recorded by the territory’s health ministry. “Between October 2023 and December 2025, more than 38,000 women and girls were killed in Gaza — the result of Israeli air bombardment and land military operations,” the UN Women agency’s spokeswoman Sofia Calltorp told a press briefing in Geneva. “This includes over 22,000 women and 16,000 girls, amounting to an average of at least 47 women and girls killed every day.” The agency said the…
FIFTEEN people have arrived in DR Congo after being expelled from the United States as part of an immigration crackdown, the UN confirmed on Friday, with a local source saying they were from Peru and Ecuador. The arrivals in Kinshasa overnight Thursday to Friday are the first under the deal to land in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the latest African nation to accept expelled migrants from the US.Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year, his administration has negotiated several expulsion agreements despite fierce criticism from rights groups. The countries accepting the deportees generally give…
THE youngest son of Zimbabwe’s late former leader Robert Mugabe has pleaded guilty to pointing a firearm and illegally being in South Africa. Bellarmine Mugabe entered guilty pleas to the two charges after he was arrested in February following the shooting of a 23-year-old man at his home in Johannesburg. The 28-year-old has been held in custody alongside co-accused Tobias Matonhodze, and appeared at the court in Alexandra on Friday. Lawyers for the men told the court they were prepared to return to their native Zimbabwe at their own expense if they do not receive a custodial sentence. Matonhodze, 33,…
ABU Haidar’s legs dangled out the passenger side of his car onto the pavement at Beirut’s waterfront. He had folded up his mattress – the one he’s slept on for the last six weeks and packed it on top of his car. It was a few hours before the midnight start of a 10-day ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel was set to take effect. Abu Haidar’s car was packed, and he planned to head to his village, Kherbet Selem, about 25 kilometres (15 miles) from the border. “At 11pm, I’m going home, not at 12,” he told Al Jazeera. He…
BANK robbers in Italy held 25 people hostage for two hours on Thursday, before making their escape through a tunnel with loot from safe deposit boxes, a police source told AFP. Three masked robbers, one of whom “was certainly armed”, entered a branch of the French Credit Agricole bank in Naples at around 11:30 am (0930 GMT), the source said. They took hostage customers and employees, who were rescued some two hours later, he said. “Thanks to the swift response… all the hostages were freed shortly after 1:30 pm, without serious injuries,” Naples Prefect Michele di Bari said in a…
LEADING South African opposition politician Julius Malema, 45, has been sentenced to five years after being found guilty of the illegal possession of a gun and firing it in public. But Magistrate Twanet Olivier allowed the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters and MP to appeal against the sentencing, meaning that he was not immediately taken to prison. Earlier, standing in court in a dark suit and red tie, Malema showed little emotion as Olivier read out the sentence even though his political future was at stake. Last year, he was convicted of five offences, including the unlawful possession of…
SOUTH African police say have they arrested “wanted fugitive” French-born Beninese activist Kemi Seba while he was allegedly attempting to flee to Europe through Zimbabwe. Seba, whose real name is Stellio Gilles Robert Capo Chichi, is wanted in Benin on charges of “inciting rebellion” after supporting last year’s foiled coup there. He was arrested on Monday alongside his 18-year-old son in a sting operation at a shopping centre in Pretoria. A “facilitator” who had allegedly been paid to help them illegally cross to Zimbabwe was also detained. Seba, 45, is known for opposing French influence in Africa, backing West Africa’s…
BAYERN Munich produced a dramatic late surge to eliminate Real Madrid, while Arsenal endured a tense night to edge past Sporting CP as both sides secured places in the UEFA Champions League semi-finals. In Madrid, Bayern Munich claimed a thrilling 4-3 victory on the night and a 6-4 aggregate triumph over Real Madrid, with late goals from Luis Díaz and Michael Olise sealing passage to the last four, where they will face holders Paris Saint-Germain. The contest burst into life almost immediately as Arda Güler capitalised on a loose pass from Manuel Neuer to put Madrid ahead inside the opening…
THE United States is sending more than 10,000 additional troops to the Middle East before the end of April as Washington tries to increase pressure on Iran, US officials have told The Washington Post. The newspaper, quoting current and former US officials speaking on condition of anonymity, reported on Tuesday that the US was sending about 6,000 troops on board the USS George HW Bush carrier and the ships escorting it to the region. Approximately 4,200 other troops from the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group and its embarked Marine Corps task force, the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, are expected to arrive…
A STUDENT has shot at least nine people dead, including fellow pupils, and wounded at least 13 at a middle school in south-central Turkiye, the interior minister says. Wednesday’s attack in the province of Kahramanmaras was carried out by a student in the eighth grade, Governor Mukerrem Unluer told reporters. The attacker was also dead. “We regret to report nine deaths … and 13 wounded. Six of them are currently in intensive care, three of whom are in critical condition,” Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci said. Unluer said the student who carried out the shooting is believed to have used guns…
A CHINESE national has been sentenced to a year in prison for attempting to smuggle thousands of live queen garden ants out of Kenya. The court in Nairobi on Wednesday also fined Zhang Kequn 1m Kenyan shillings (£5,713; $7,737). Judge Irene Gichobi described Zhang as not “entirely honest” and lacking in remorse. Last month, he was charged with illegally dealing in wildlife species after being arrested at Nairobi’s main airport while attempting to travel to China with more than 2,000 ants in his luggage. Kenyan authorities have warned of a growing demand for the ants in Europe and Asia, where…
SOUTH Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed Roelf Meyer, who served in the last government of the apartheid era, as his new ambassador to the US, his office has said. The country has not had a top envoy in the US since Ebrahim Rasool was expelled last year after he accused President Donald Trump of trying to “project white victimhood as a dog whistle”. This worsened already strained relations between the nations, which took a downward spiral after Trump’s return to office last year. Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya confirmed Meyer’s nomination, telling the BBC it would be “immediate”. “I can…
THE Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) has warned that airlines across the country may suspend operations from April 20, 2026, over what it describes as an “astronomical and unsustainable” rise in the price of Jet A1 fuel. In a letter dated April 14, 2026, and addressed to the Executive Secretary of the Major Energies Marketers Association of Nigeria (MEMAN), Mr Clement Isong, AON said the cost of aviation fuel has surged from ₦900 per litre as of February 28 to ₦3,300 per litre, an increase of over 300 per cent within weeks. According to the body, the spike is “artificial”…
A NEW trial over the death of football legend Diego Maradona began Tuesday in Argentina, 10 months after a scandal involving a judge caused the first trial to collapse. Maradona, considered one of the world’s greatest players, died in November 2020 at the age of 60 while recovering from surgery for a brain clot. His seven-strong medical team is accused of gross negligence causing his death over the conditions of his home convalescence. He died of heart failure and acute pulmonary edema — a condition where fluid accumulates in the lungs — two weeks after going under the knife and…
PAKISTANI Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif says he will visit Saudi Arabia and Turkiye this week as his bid to moderate a second round of peace talks between the United States and Iran appears to gather momentum. President Asif Ali Zardari said in a statement released on Tuesday that Sharif had briefed him on his drive to discuss the issue with his fellow mediators and to secure further negotiations, which comes during a two-week ceasefire that has halted US and Israeli strikes on Iran. Zardari urged the prime minister and other officials to remain engaged with the US, Iran and other…
THE Pentagon says no ships “made it past” the United States military blockade in the Strait of Hormuz in its first 24 hours and six merchant ships followed orders to turn around. The statement on Tuesday from the US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) was the first update since US President Donald Trump announced the blockade of the waterway after US-Iran talks over the weekend in Pakistan failed to yield an agreement on ending the war the US and Israel launched on February 28. CENTCOM said the blockade applies only to vessels “entering and exiting Iranian ports” and other vessels remain…
BENIN presidential election favourite Romuald Wadagni swept to victory in the country’s polls, securing 94 percent of votes, according to provisional results. The electoral commission published the preliminary tally overnight from Monday to Tuesday, though it has not yet issued final official results. But Wadagni’s ability to conjure economic growth in the face of jihadist attacks gave him a clear lead, even if the eight million-strong electorate showed scant enthusiasm for either candidate, notably in the West African nation’s cities. Wadagni’s opponent earlier conceded defeat even as votes were still being counted. Opposition candidate Paul Hounkpe offered congratulations to finance…