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FORMER US president Donald Trump has agreed to meet with the FBI for a “victim interview” about this month’s assassination attempt, bureau officials said Monday. Providing an update on the status of the probe into the July 13 shooting, Federal Bureau of Investigation officials said they have still not determined a motive for the attack by the 20-year-old gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks. They said Crooks, who was shot dead by a Secret Service sniper after firing eight shots during Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, appeared to be a “loner” and they have not identified any co-conspirators. FBI special agent…

SOUTH Africa’s former President Jacob Zuma has been expelled from the African National Congress (ANC), the party he once led, after campaigning for a rival party in the 29 May general election. The ANC’s disciplinary committee found Mr Zuma guilty of “prejudicing the integrity” of the party by joining uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), and has given him three weeks to appeal against its ruling. “His platform is dangerous, appeals to extremist instincts in our body politic and riles up a political base that may foment social unrest,” the ANC said in a statement. MK has said that Mr Zuma was…

A COMMANDER in a Russian mercenary group has been killed in Mali following an attack by rebel fighters during a sandstorm, the group said. The military regime in the West African state had turned to the notorious Wagner group in 2021, seeking support in fighting insurgents and separatist forces. On Monday the Russian outfit – which has now morphed into a group named Africa Corps – said it had joined Mali’s military in “fierce battles” against separatist rebels and insurgents last week. However, the separatists launched a major attack, killing an estimated 20 to 50 mercenaries, sources close to Africa…

NIGERIA is bracing for nationwide protests this week over economic hardship. Politicians and the army have warned people against taking to the streets, but organisers say government failings have left them little choice. Both sides have made comparisons with recent protests in Kenya that forced the government to withdraw new taxes, but it is not clear what shape the rallies could take in Nigeria. With demonstrations set to start on Thursday, AFP looks at how things stand. What’s the economic backdrop? Nigeria is suffering its worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation following reforms President Bola Ahmed Tinubu brought in after…

STRIKER Rasmus Hojlund and £52m new signing Leny Yoro both suffered first-half injuries as Manchester United lost their opening US tour game against Premier League rivals Arsenal 2-1 in Los Angeles. Hojlund had given his side a 10th-minute lead when he burst onto Marcus Rashford’s first-time pass, outmuscled young defender Ayden Heaven, then beat keeper Karl Hein with a shot through his legs. The Dane turned a low Aaron Wan-Bissaka cross wide from close range before seeming to experience a muscle injury after 15 minutes that meant he could not continue. Yoro’s exit was equally innocuous. The 18-year-old defender, who…

SINCE October, the near-daily cross-border attacks between Israel and Hezbollah, the powerful Iranian-backed militia and political movement in Lebanon, have killed hundreds of people and forced tens of thousands from their homes on both sides, raising fears that the relatively contained violence could escalate into an all-out conflict. Amid the strikes and counter-strikes, however, there have been indications that they were trying to avoid a major confrontation. But miscalculation was always a risk, and Saturday’s attack on the Druze town of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, could have been that. Israel accuses Hezbollah of carrying out the strike…

BANGLADESH has restored mobile internet, 11 days after a nationwide blackout was imposed to contain deadly protests over quotas in government jobs. The South Asian nation’s 4G mobile internet services resumed on Sunday, hours after Zunaid Ahmed Palak, the state minister for telecommunications and information communication technology, made the announcement. “We have decided to restore the 4G network connectivity from 3pm [09:00 GMT] today,” the state minister said, following a meeting with internet service providers (ISP) and other stakeholders in the capital Dhaka. Social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube, however, remain restricted. The broadband internet connectivity…

A MAINLY Tuareg separatist coalition has claimed a major victory over Mali’s army and its Russian allies following three days of intense fighting in a district on the Algerian border. “Our forces decisively obliterated these enemy columns on Saturday,” said a statement by Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane, spokesman for the Permanent Strategic Framework for Peace, Security and Development (CSP-PSD) alliance on Sunday. “A large amount of equipment and weapons were seized or damaged”, and prisoners were taken, the statement said, adding that seven rebels were killed and 12 wounded in the fighting in the Tinzaouatene district. Mali’s military rulers, led by…

TWELVE Libyan officials have received sentences ranging between nine and 27 years in prison for their role in catastrophic dam collapses that killed more than 4,000 people last September. Entire neighbourhoods in the city of Derna were swept away, and evacuation efforts were botched. The convicted officials were responsible for managing water resources and maintaining the dams. They were charged with crimes including negligence, premeditated murder and wasting public money, Reuters reported. Three of the defendants were also ordered to repay money obtained through illicit means, the public prosecutor’s office said. Four others put on trial were acquitted. An international…

THE Super Falcons will be hoping to get their first win of the women’s football event of the Paris 2024 Olympics when they take on world champions Spain in their second Group C game at the Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes on Sunday (today). Randy Waldrum’s ladies suffered a 1-0 defeat to Brazil in their opening game at the Matmut Atlantique Stadium in Bordeaux on Thursday, with Gabi Nunes scoring the decisive goal in the 34th minute to condemn Nigeria to their first competitive defeat in regulation time since losing to Zambia in the third-place playoff at the 2022 Africa…

REAL Madrid unveiled Brazilian teenager Endrick, who has joined the European champions on a six-year deal, in an event at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday. Endrick, who turned 18 last week, arrives from the Brazilian club Palmeiras, where he won two league titles and a Super Cup. He made his international debut aged 17 against Colombia last November, going on to score his first goal against England in a 1-0 win in March. He was a member of Brazil’s Copa America squad, making his first international start in the quarter-final with Uruguay which they lost on penalties. “I don’t have…

MORE than 50 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in central and southern Gaza, with one air raid hitting a school where thousands of displaced people were sheltering, according to Palestinian officials. At least 30 people were killed in an Israeli attack on Khadija School in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, the Palestinian Health Ministry said on Saturday. Fifteen children and eight women were among those killed in the attack on the school in Deir el-Balah, Gaza’s Government Media Office said, and more than 100 people were wounded. The Israeli military said in a statement it had targeted a “Hamas…

ISMAEL ‘El Mayo’ Zambada is one of the most notorious names in drug war history, synonymous with the fearsome power and corrosive influence of the most important drug cartel in the world. The last of an original generation of drug cartel leaders, he created the Sinaloa Cartel alongside Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman from the remnants of the Guadalajara Cartel after it collapsed in 1989. But unlike his infamous partner who was twice jailed and escaped, El Mayo was able to evade capture for some 35 years. Until now. US authorities arrested him in El Paso, Texas on Thursday. He has…

THE lawyer for Niger’s ousted President Mohamed Bazoum has told the BBC as the country marks a year since the coup that he fears the former head of state could face the death penalty. Last month Niger’s top court stripped Mr Bazoum of his immunity from prosecution, paving the way for him to be tried for treason – which is punishable by death – and other alleged offences. Mr Bazoum, 64, and his wife Hadiza have been held in detention for the last year with no telephone access and no visits allowed apart from a doctor, lawyer Moussa Coulibaly said.…

LOUIS van Schoor, a convicted mass murderer in South Africa known as the “Apartheid Killer”, has died. The 72-year-old had been in hospital with an infection in his leg. His daughter told the BBC he died on Thursday afternoon “due to complications from sepsis”. Van Schoor’s death came less than a week after a BBC investigation into his past, which exposed horrific new details about a series of killings he carried out in the late 1980s during the final years of white-minority rule. The sister of one of his victims has told the BBC she hopes the police will re-open…

DANGOTE Refinery has reaffirmed that its diesel is of superior quality compared to imported equivalents and meets international standards. This is coming over the recent comment of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) Chief Executive, Farouk Ahmed, that the quality of the refinery diesel is inferior to the imported products. This newspaper reports the refinery said none of the imported diesel into Nigeria can compete with that of Dangote refinery in terms of quality and this can be confirmed by any expert who intends to test our products and those imported independently. Dangote Group Chief Commercial Officer,…

MORE than 180,000 Palestinians have fled bombardment around the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis in four days, the United Nations has said. Recent “intensified hostilities” in the Khan Younis area, more than nine months into the Israeli war, have fuelled “new waves of internal displacement across Gaza”, said the UN humanitarian agency OCHA on Friday. It said that “about 182,000 people” have been displaced from central and eastern Khan Younis between Monday and Thursday, while “hundreds of other people remain stranded in eastern Khan Younis”. The Israeli military on Monday issued evacuation orders for parts of the southern city,…

A GERMAN man sentenced to death by a court in Belarus appeared on television Thursday to ask for a pardon. Rico Krieger, 30, was convicted under six articles of Belarus’s criminal code in a secretive trial held at the end of June, the Viasna Human Rights Centre reported. “I really hope that President (Alexander) Lukashenko will forgive me and pardon me,” the German national told Belarusian public television, according to a statement quoted by the Russian news agency TASS. He said that he had been asked by Ukraine to photograph military sites in Belarus in October 2023 and that he…

NINETY-FIVE Libyan nationals have been arrested on suspicion of receiving training at an “illegal” military camp in South Africa, police have said. Officers raided the farm in White River – a small town in the northern province of Mpumalanga – on Friday. They said they found military tents, licenced firearms and other military equipment. Cannabis and cocaine were also found at the camp, the police said. Officers conducted the raid after receiving intelligence on Wednesday. According to national police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe, the Libyans allegedly “misrepresented themselves” on their visa applications by saying they would be training as security guards.…

A UGANDAN activist, one of dozens detained this week for participating in banned demonstrations, was sexually assaulted in custody, his lawyer has said. More than 90 youths were arrested and some were charged with being a public nuisance following anti-corruption protests that hit the capital, Kampala. Some of those released from detention have also reportedly said they had been sexually assaulted while in police cells, sparking widespread criticism. But police denied the allegation. The two days of anti-corruption demonstrations went ahead on Tuesday and Thursday despite a warning from President Yoweri Museveni that the protesters were “playing with fire”. The…