Author: Editor

IN the early hours of Saturday morning, 24-year-old Sajida al-Kafarna was sleeping with her family inside a school classroom when they were woken by a huge explosion. “We reassured each other that we were OK, but when I noticed my father’s empty place, panic set in because he had gone to pray dawn prayer,” recounted Sajida. Sajida’s family was among the roughly 2,400 displaced Palestinians sheltering at al-Tabin School. Her father, Abdul Aziz al-Kafarna, 58, was inside the school’s small mosque when Israel bombed the building. Sajida paused, holding back sobs. “My mother, my siblings, and I all rushed to…

UKRAINIAN President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Ukrainian forces are now in control of 74 Russian settlements in the Kursk region, the result of a Ukrainian cross-border operation. In an evening address on Tuesday, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces continue to advance into the Kursk region and take Russian prisoners. “There are 74 settlements under the control of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said. The Ukrainian leader has presented the daring operation as evidence that his country maintains the ability to seize the initiative and direct events, more than two years after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. On Monday, the Kursk region’s Governor…

SENGALESE commuters hoping to browse the news on their way to work were left disappointed on Tuesday – most national newspapers refused to publish in protest against what they see as shrinking media freedom under the new government. The media is experiencing “one of the darkest days of its history,” the local Council of Press Distributors and Publishers (CDEPS) said. It accuses the government – led by former opposition politicians – of freezing the bank accounts of media companies and seizing their equipment over alleged non-payment of taxes. Officials justify the crackdown by saying they were trying to end practices…

KENYAN journalist Rukia Bulle has won the 2024 BBC News Komla Dumor Award. The 30-year-old, who is the ninth recipient of the award and works for Kenya’s Nation Media Group, specialises in human interest stories. Bulle has also successfully built a strong following on TikTok through her relatable and informative content on the life of a journalist. The award was created to honour Dumor, a Ghanaian journalist and presenter for BBC World News, who died suddenly aged 41 in 2014. He had worked tirelessly to bring a more nuanced narrative of Africa to the world, representing a confident, savvy and…

VINICIOUS Júnior is the latest target for the Saudi Pro League, a source told ESPN, and the Real Madrid player is considering a proposal to move to the Gulf country. Vinícius, 24, helped lead Madrid to a Champions League and LaLiga double last season and is among the leading candidates to win the Ballon d’Or this year. There have been talks between Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Real Madrid about the move, the source said, although the LaLiga giants do not want the star to leave. The source told ESPN that there has not yet been an official,…

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has urged Iran to “refrain” from attacking Israel during a phone call with Iran’s new president. Sir Keir told Masoud Pezeshkian there was a “serious risk of miscalculation and now was the time for calm and careful consideration”, Downing Street said. It is the first call between a UK prime minister and an Iranian president since March 2021 when former British leader Boris Johnson spoke to Hassan Rouhani. News of the 30-minute discussion came as the UK issued a joint statement with the US, France, Italy and Germany – urging Iran to end its…

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin says Ukraine is trying to undermine Russian stability with its incursion into the south of the country and warns that Ukraine will receive “a worthy response”. Last week, Ukrainian forces rammed through the Russian border and swept across western parts of the Kursk region. The incursion is Ukraine’s biggest across the border since the start of Russia’s war in the country in 2022. Apparently caught by surprise, Moscow has hit back militarily by deploying its own troops to quash the incursion. Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Monday that additional forces and resources had arrived in Kursk,…

THE United Nations chief has called for the UN Security Council (UNSC) to reform its outdated structure and assign Africa a permanent seat at the table, stressing that the continent is underrepresented. Addressing the council on Monday during a high-level debate, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the composition of the UNSC has failed to keep pace with a changing world. “We cannot accept that the world’s preeminent peace and security body lacks a permanent voice for a continent of well over a billion people … nor can we accept that Africa’s views are undervalued on questions of peace and security, both…

THE leader of a Kenyan starvation sect went on trial for manslaughter on Monday over the deaths of more than 400 of his followers in one of the world’s worst cult-related tragedies. Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie and dozens of other suspects pleaded not guilty in January to multiple counts of manslaughter, one of several cases against them over what is known as the “Shakahola Forest Massacre”. Mackenzie appeared in a magistrate’s court in the Indian Ocean port city of Mombasa along with 93 other suspects, prosecutors and court officials said. “There has never been a manslaughter case like this…

THE independent electoral commissions in Kwara and Anambra states have fixed September 21 and 28 respectively for local government (LG) elections. The Kwara State Independent Electoral Commission said it has set machinery in motion to conduct the local government election next month to usher in the democratically elected chairmen for the 16 LG councils in the North Central state. While the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) said it is ready for the exercise, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) expressed reservation over the planned exercise. For nearly five years, the 16 local government areas in Kwara State have been run…

ISRAEL issued new evacuation orders overnight covering areas of southern Gaza as it pressed on with its assault on the enclave, despite global condemnation of a devastating strike on a school-turned-shelter. The Israeli military issued the order to clear parts of the city of Khan Younis, including part of an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone from which the army said rockets had been fired, early on Sunday. The order came a day after an Israeli air strike on al-Tabin School in Gaza City reportedly killed more than 100 people sheltering there. The area that the new evacuation order covers is one of…

IN his first interview since dropping out of the presidential race, US President Joe Biden has told broadcaster CBS that he made the decision in order to maintain democracy in the United States. Speaking on the CBS News Sunday Morning programme, Biden said: “The polls we had showed that it was a neck-and-neck race, would have been down to the wire … But what happened was, a number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought that I was gonna hurt them in the races.” “And I was concerned if I stayed in the race, that would be…

A LANDSLIDE at a rubbish dump in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, has killed at least 18 people, authorities have reported as they continue to search for survivors. Police announced the death toll on Sunday, two days after torrential rain broke off a huge chunk of rubbish at Kiteezi, the city’s only landfill site. The landslide buried people, livestock and homes as residents slept. Authorities had reported eight confirmed deaths on Saturday, but the number of casualties has risen as rescuers dig for survivors. Authorities said on Sunday that the death toll had risen to 18, according to the Associated Press. “The…

PAUL Kagame has been sworn in for a fourth term as Rwanda’s president after winning 99% of the vote in last month’s election. While some hail Mr Kagame for bringing peace and stability to his country after the 1994 genocide, others accuse him of running a repressive regime in a country where ordinary people are afraid to openly criticise him. Rights groups say the margin of his electoral victory is proof of the lack of democracy in Rwanda. Only two candidates were allowed to stand against Mr Kagame in the 15 July election. In his four presidential elections, he has…

MANCHESTER City avenged their FA Cup final defeat to Manchester United to lift the Community Shield 7-6 on penalties on Saturday, after a 1-1 draw at Wembley. The game exploded into life in the final 10 minutes as Alejandro Garnacho gave United the lead before Bernardo Silva levelled in the 89th minute. Pep Guardiola’s men then edged a marathon shoot-out as Jadon Sancho and Jonny Evans failed to score for United. City have won the Premier League for a record four consecutive seasons but it is the first time in that run that they have won the season opener after…

A DEADLY Israeli attack on a school in Gaza has renewed calls for the United States to stop providing staunch support for Israel, including weapons transfers that rights advocates say are fuelling atrocities in the Palestinian enclave. The Gaza civil defence agency said more than 100 Palestinians were killed and dozens more were injured on Saturday when Israel launched an attack on al-Tabin school in Gaza City. “The US & allies are claiming a ceasefire is near. But all Palestinians see is more death, dislocation, & despair. The genocide continues,” James Zogby, co-founder and president of the Arab American Institute,…

DONALD Trump’s campaign has said some of its internal communications have been hacked and suggested it was targeted by Iranian operatives. US news website Politico reported on Saturday that it had been emailed campaign documents including internal research carried out on Trump’s running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance. “These documents were obtained illegally from foreign sources hostile to the United States, intended to interfere with the 2024 election,” a campaign spokesman told the BBC. Politico said it had confirmed the authenticity of the documents. The BBC has not independently verified the claims. The campaign did not give any further details…

A US court has convicted a Mozambican former finance minister over a 10-year-old conspiracy that triggered the worst economic crisis in his home country since independence. Manuel Chang was found guilty of accepting pay-offs through US banks for approving secret loans. The loans were intended to pay for a fleet of tuna fishing ships and other projects, leading to the affair being dubbed the “tuna bond” scandal. But the loans were plundered, leaving Mozambique $2bn (£1.5bn) in debt. Chang was arrested in South Africa in 2018, and extradited to the US the following year to face fraud and money-laundering charges.…

GLOBALLY, freedom of expression is enshrined in international agreements, like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that “everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression.” Yet, in practice, the situation is more complex. In some countries, citizens enjoy broad freedoms to express themselves openly and without fear. In others, this right is curtailed, often harshly. In the last year, 451 million people across 10 countries experienced a deterioration of their freedom of expression; only 335 million people across 5 countries saw improvement. The largest decline over the last year took place in Burkina Faso (-24 points),…

SPAIN continued their recent dominance of international football by edging past France – who fought back from 3-1 down to force extra time – to win Olympic men’s gold at Paris 2024. The hosts took an early lead but in a pulsating match they quickly fell two goals behind before half-time, then mounted a stunning second-half comeback. However, Thierry Henry’s side could not see the job through as Spain substitute Sergio Camello kept calm in the most tense of situations to score twice in the extra period. Both goals sparked jubilant celebrations among the Spanish, who mobbed Rayo Vallecano forward…