Author: Editor

A HEZBOLLAH rocket landed in Israel’s main airport today as the group launched waves of projectiles across the Lebanese border. Ben Gurion airport was struck during a blistering assault this morning as the IDF battled to intercept the initial salvo of projectiles. the military reported. Flights were delayed and disrupted as a result of the attack, as Hezbollah claimed it was targeting the IDF’s Tzrifin base, south of the airport. Debris from an intercepted rocket also hit an empty car parked in Ra’anana, some 13 miles from the airport in Tel Aviv. Sirens rang out again east of the city…

WHEN Fox News called Pennsylvania for Donald Trump in the early hours of Wednesday, all but confirming that he will be the next president of the United States, there were a handful of Arab activists left at a watch party in Dearborn, Michigan. “Genocide is bad politics,” said one attendee at the event, which had Palestinian and Lebanese flags hanging outside its doors. And as the reality of another Trump presidency set off anger and sorrow from many Democratic commentators, at the Arab American gathering, there was a sense of indifference, if not vindication. Democratic candidate Kamala Harris had ignored…

SOUTH Africa has closed one of its busiest border crossings with Mozambique following violent post-electoral protests in the neighbouring country. The protests have led to deadly clashes in several cities following last month’s disputed presidential election, won by Mozambique’s ruling Frelimo party. The authorities say there are reports of vehicles being torched on the Mozambican side of the Lebombo port of entry. “Due to these security incidents and in the interest of public safety, the port has been temporarily closed until further notice,” the South African border agency said. South African police also fired rubber bullets and stun grenades at…

A COURT in Rwanda has slapped a beauty queen with a three-month suspended sentence for drink-driving and driving without a licence. Divine Muheto, who won the most recent Miss Rwanda pageant, was also fined 190,000 Rwandan francs ($140; £109). Ms Muheto last month crashed her car into an electricity pylon and a palm tree while driving home from a bar in the capital Kigali, according to local site the New Times. At the time, a statement said she had fled the scene, but the court acquitted her of this charge. She wasn’t present at the court hearing, and neither was…

THE wealth of billionaire Tesla and X owner, Elon Musk, has soared by about $13 billion hours after his ally, Donald Trump, won the United States presidential election. Early Wednesday, investors were already betting that Trump’s win will also be a win for Musk’s major public holding, Tesla (TSLA), sending shares of his electric vehicle maker up 13% at the market open, CNN reports. The development lifted the value of the 411 million shares of Tesla that Musk owns outright by more than $13 billion, which works out to a better than a 11,000% return on the $119 million he…

INCOMING Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim saved one of his greatest Sporting victories for his last home game to condemn Manchester City to a third successive defeat for the first time since April 2018. It was City’s heaviest defeat since September 2020 and only the second time in his trophy-ladened spell at City that Pep Guardiola has been beaten in three consecutive games in a single season. To cap a thoroughly depressing night for City, star striker Erling Haaland blasted a second-half penalty against the crossbar. Sporting’s own Scandanavian superstar Viktor Gyokeres – formerly of Coventry City – did much…

ISRAEL’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday dismissed Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over a breakdown in trust during the Gaza war against Hamas, his office said. The two have frequently clashed over Israel’s retaliatory military offensive against Hamas following the Palestinian militant group’s deadly attack on Israel on October 7 last year. “In the midst of a war, more than ever, full trust between the prime minister and the defence minister is required,” Netanyahu said in a statement issued by his office. “Although in the first months of the campaign there was such trust and very productive work, over the…

US Republican presidential contender Donald Trump said he would be prepared to concede defeat after Tuesday’s vote “if it’s a fair election”, while again raising concerns about the use of electronic voting machines. “If I lose an election, if it’s a fair election, I would be the first one to acknowledge it… So far I think it’s been fair,” Trump, repeating a caveat that he has used many times on the campaign trail, told reporters after voting in Florida. Wearing a red “Make America Great Again” cap, he reiterated his previous criticism of electronic voting machines, suggesting they were less…

A COURT in Kenyan has sentenced two men to 35 years each for the murder of Ugandan athlete Benjamin Kiplagat at the end of last year. The Olympic steeplechaser was stabbed to death on New Year’s Eve in the town of Eldoret, known as a top training centre for athletes. “Your actions were cruel to a defenceless person whose life you cut short,” Justice Reuben Nyakundi told Peter Ushuru Khalumi and David Ekai Lokere during the sentencing hearing in the High Court in Eldoret. Kiplagat’s murder shocked people in Kenya, which has seen the killing of a number of other…

ZIMBABWE’s government has banned “with immediate effect” police officers from using mobile phones while working. The ban is contained in a memo, ordering police officers to abandon their private communication gadgets while on duty. All officers are required to surrender their mobile phones to their supervisors once they get to their stations and only use them during their break time. No reasons were cited for the ban in the memo but it is widely believed this could be part of efforts to curb police corruption. It comes a few days after two traffic enforcement officers were arrested in the capital,…

JOSE Mourinho condemned refereeing standards in Turkey after his Fenerbahce side scored a 102nd-minute winner to cap a dramatic game against Trabzonspor. The former Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham manager sprinted on to the pitch and attempted a knee slide as Sofyan Amrabat’s late goal in stoppage time earned a 3-2 victory on Sunday. However, Mourinho was unhappy with home team Trabzonspor being awarded two penalties – both after video assistant referee (VAR) consultations – and thought his side should have had a spot-kick before Amrabat’s late winner. The 61-year-old even questioned why he had come to Turkey. Speaking at…

AT least 12 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli air strikes on Gaza, medics said, as Israeli forces continue to press their siege and ground assault on the northern part of the Palestinian territory. Medics in Gaza told the Reuters news agency on Monday at least seven people were killed in an attack on the north Gaza city of Beit Lahiya. Five others were killed in attacks in central and southern Gaza. The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said that the Kamal Adwan Hospital, the last partially functioning hospital in the north of the enclave, was being attacked by…

WHEN Yang Seung-ji heard that thousands of North Korean soldiers had been sent to Russia for possible deployment in Ukraine, she began searching online for the nearest emergency shelter. Yang is concerned that tensions between North and South Korea, which have been aggravated by Pyongyang’s reported involvement in the war in Ukraine, could spill over into an armed confrontation. “I worried that public transportation would be down and make me unable to go back home,” the 25-year-old job seeker, who recently moved from the regional city of Chungju to Seoul, about 50 km (30 miles) from the inter-Korean border, told…

RWANDA said Monday it will no longer register petrol-driven motorbike taxis from the new year as it seeks to transition towards electric vehicles. “The goal is to promote the use of cleaner, more efficient energy and reduce gas emissions,” Minister of Infrastructure Jimmy Gasore told AFP. The new rule will only apply in the capital Kigali and to motorbikes used as taxis — the dominant form of public transport. Rwanda has several subsidies in place to promote electrification, including cheaper electricity for charging and tax breaks for companies producing batteries. The ministry estimates there are some 110,000 motorbikes in Rwanda,…

SUDAN’s army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, at war with paramilitaries, has announced a cabinet reshuffle that replaces four ministers including those for foreign affairs and the media. The late Sunday announcement comes with the northeast African country gripped by the world’s worst displacement crisis, threatened by famine and desperate for aid, according to the UN. In a post on its official Facebook page, Sudan’s ruling sovereignty council said Burhan had approved replacement of the ministers of foreign affairs, the media, religious affairs and trade. The civil war that began in April 2023 pits Burhan’s military against the Rapid Support Forces…

FOLLOWING the outrage that trailed the arrest and arraignment of minors over the #EndBadGovernance protests held in several parts of the country in August, President Bola Tinubu on Monday directed the immediate release of all the children. News Point Nigeria reports that the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, disclosed this to State House correspondents on Monday after the President swore in seven newly appointed ministers cleared by the Senate. The minister said the President ordered the immediate release of the minors without prejudice to whatever legal processes that are ongoing. The President also directed the Ministry of…

MOISES Caicedo’s crisp volley gave Chelsea a deserved point against Manchester United at Old Trafford. United’s interim manager Ruud van Nistelrooy, in charge while the Red Devils await the arrival of newly-appointed Ruben Amorim, looked on course for a second successive victory when Bruno Fernandes broke the deadlock from the spot in the 70th minute after Chelsea keeper Robert Sanchez brought down Rasmus Hojlund. Van Nistelrooy celebrated wildly on the touchline but United’s elation lasted only four minutes until Caicedo expertly struck a superb shot past Andre Onana from the edge of the area. It resulted in a share of…

UNICEF says more than 50 children have been killed in Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp in the past 48 hours, with the Save the Children charity saying the high number shows “the intensity of this conflict and this war on children”. “Children are under constant bombardment, in constant fear,” Rachel Cummings, Save the Children International’s Humanitarian Director and Team Lead in Gaza, told Al Jazeera on Sunday. More than 16,700 children have been killed in Israel’s assault on Gaza since October last year, according to Palestinian officials, more than a third of the overall death toll of 43,341 confirmed by health…

HUNDREDS of residents of a Valencia suburb badly hit by last week’s deadly floods have protested during a visit by Spanish King Felipe, Queen Letizia, and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, with some demonstrators throwing mud at them. Chanting “Murderers, murderers!” on Sunday, they vented anger over what has been widely perceived by local residents as tardy alerts from the authorities about the dangers of Tuesday’s flooding, and then a late response by the emergency services when disaster struck. “Please, the dead are still in the garages, the families are looking for their relatives and friends. Please come, we only ask…

A LIGHTNING strike at a refugee camp in Uganda has killed 13 children and one adult, police say. They say the victims were attending a church service on Saturday evening when the lightning struck. Another 34 people were injured. The incident occurred at Palabek Refugee Settlement in the north-west of the country. The area has recently seen heavy rains with thunder and lightning. Kituuma Rusoke, spokesperson for Uganda Police, told BBC News that the adult killed on Saturday was 21 years old. Mr Rusoke did not reveal the exact ages of the children who died. Palabek Refugee Settlement is home…