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CHINA said Saturday that it has evacuated 215 of its nationals from Lebanon, where Israel has been carrying out intense bombardments since last month, resulting in over 1,100 deaths. This week, Israel said its troops launched “ground raids” into parts of southern Lebanon, a stronghold of Iran-backed Hezbollah, following days of heavy strikes on areas across the country where the group holds sway. Israel has recently shifted its focus to securing its northern border with Lebanon, where there have been near-daily clashes since Hezbollah launched strikes in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas, after that group’s October 7 attack. Several…

TUNISIA’s President Kais Saied, seen as a saviour by supporters and an autocrat by critics, is running for re-election on Sunday in a vote that he is all but certain to win. More than a dozen politicians had hoped to challenge him, but the electoral commission approved only two additional names for the ballot paper. And one of those, Ayachi Zammel, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for falsifying documents just five days before the poll. Tunisia was where the Arab Spring, a series of uprisings against autocratic rulers in North Africa and the Middle East, began in late…

CHAD, a decades-old ally of France, is now cleverly playing off Russia and its traditional Western partners, deepening relations with Moscow in a ploy that irritates and pressures Paris and Washington. President Mahamat Déby visited his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in the Kremlin in January, while Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was in Chad’s capital, N’Djamena, in June to continue the dialogue. Some Chadian officials have floated the idea of a new military partnership, though the current focus has been on strengthening cultural and media ties. Last month saw the opening of an official Russian cultural centre in N’Djamena. There…

FRENCH international footballer Paul Pogba’s four-year ban for doping has been reduced to 18 months, a spokesperson from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said on Friday. “I can confirm the decision: an 18-month suspension with effect from 11 September 2023. The reasons for the decision will follow later,” the CAS spokesperson told AFP. Pogba, who is under contract with Juventus until 2026, will be able to return to competitive football from March 11 next year, four days before his 32nd birthday. Pogba tested positive for testosterone in August 2023 after a match between Juventus and Udinese. He was…

THE United Nations on Friday condemned what it called an “unlawful air strike” by Israel on a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank that the Palestinian health ministry said killed 18 children the previous day. “The strike is part of a highly concerning pattern of unlawful use of force by ISF (Israeli security forces) during military-like operations in the West Bank that have caused widespread harm to Palestinians children and significant damage to buildings and infrastructure,” the United Nations rights office said in a statement. “This incident is another clear example of ISF’s systematic resort to lethal force in…

ELON Musk has said he is going to join Donald Trump for an election rally at the site of a July assassination attempt on the former president’s life. Musk, 53, announced on Friday that he will appear at the event in Butler, Pennsylvania, the following day. Trump, who served as the United States president from 2017 to 2021, is in the midst of a tight race for a second term in November, and Pennsylvania is a key swing state. Also due to attend on Saturday are Trump’s running mate, Senator JD Vance, and his son, Eric Trump. “I will be…

AT least 78 people have died after a ferry capsized on Lake Kivu, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, just a few hundred metres from its destination. The boat was travelling from the town of Minova in South Kivu and sank as it was arriving on Goma’s shore on Thursday morning. A video circulating online shows the boat tilting to one side and then sinking. There were 278 passengers onboard, according to a regional governor. “It’ll take at least three days to get the exact numbers, because not all the bodies have been found yet,” Governor Jean Jacques Purisi told…

Warning: This story contains distressing details from the start. A SOUTH African serial rapist – who assaulted children as young as nine years old – has received 42 life sentences. Nkosinathi Phakathi was convicted of 90 counts of rape – attacks that he carried out between 2012 and 2021. The 40-year-old sometimes made children watch him raping his victims and also forced young boys to rape their female friends, South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said. Phakathi’s crimes took place in or around Ekurhuleni, a municipality just east of the city of Johannesburg. On Friday, the Johannesburg High Court heard…

A TOP figure in African football’s governing body is under investigation in Switzerland on suspicion of criminal mismanagement of funds, but insisted Thursday the bank transfers in question were “legitimate”. Veron Mosengo-Omba, general secretary of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) headquartered in Cairo, is being investigated in the western canton of Fribourg. In a statement on X, he insisted the financial transfers under scrutiny were “legitimate”, transparent and were “remuneration and bonus” received from CAF. The Fribourg public prosecutor’s office wanted the national Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland to handle the case. But a Swiss court rejected…

AT least 18 people have been killed in an Israeli air attack on the Tulkarem refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said. The Israeli military said that its fighter jets had carried out the attack on Thursday in coordination with Israel’s internal security service, the Shin Bet. The army said in a later statement that it had targeted the head of Hamas’s infrastructure in Tulkarem. The Palestinian group did not immediately comment on the Israeli military’s claim. A camp official, Faisal Salama, told the AFP news agency that the strike had been carried out…

MORE than 200 people are confirmed dead after Hurricane Helene carved a path of destruction through several southeastern US states, officials said Thursday, making it the second deadliest storm to hit the US mainland in more than half a century. A compilation of official figures by AFP confirms 201 fatalities across North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Virginia. More than half of the deaths were in flood-ravaged North Carolina. Helene is the deadliest on the US mainland since 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, which killed 1,392 people. Despite hundreds of rescues across six states and an enormous response including more…

SOUTH Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has sacked his powerful and long-serving spy chief Gen Akol Koor Kuc. He became head of the feared National Security Services (NSS) after independence in 2011 and continued throughout the bitter civil war that followed. No reason was given in the presidential decree that announced his removal, which was read out on national TV on Wednesday night – but he has been made governor of the president’s home state of Warrup, where insecurity is rife. Analysts say it may signal a power-struggle in Kiir’s inner circle – with some believing Gen Kuc may be being…

GHANA has recorded its first confirmed case of Mpox in 2024, health authorities said on Thursday, as the virus continues to spread in Africa. The patient, a young boy from the Western North Region -– about 475 kilometres (295.1 miles) from the capital Accra — showed symptoms of the virus including a rash, fever, and body pains, the director-general of Ghana Health Service (GHS) Patrick Kuma-Aboagye said in a statement. While the child has since been discharged and is in a table condition, officials have identified and are monitoring 25 people who were in contact with him. “The suspected case…

SENEGAL have decided to part company with coach Aliou Cisse, who led them to their Africa Cup of Nations triumph in 2022 and the past two World Cup tournaments. The initiative came from Senegal sports minister, Khady Diene Gaye, according to the local football association, citing a government request not to renew his contract. Cisse, a former captain of the national team and Paris Saint-Germain player, took over as coach in 2015 and led the country to their first AFCON title two years ago. Senegal also reached the last 16 of the 2022 World Cup but fell at the same…

PRESIDENT Masoud Pezeshkian insisted Wednesday that Iran was “not looking for war” but pledged a stronger response if Israel retaliates for its missile attack. “If it (Israel) wants to react, we will have a stronger response, this is what the Islamic Republic is committed to,” Pezeshkian said in a joint press conference with Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, in Doha. “We are not looking for war, it is Israel that forces us to react,” he said. Pezeshkian spoke a day after Iran fired about 200 missiles including hypersonic weapons towards Israel, sending frightened civilians into shelters. Israel intercepted…

A UK police officer went on trial on Wednesday charged with the murder of a black man in  London two years ago. Firearms officer Martyn Blake, 40, denied a charge of murdering Chris Kaba, 24, who was shot in the head on September 5, 2022. Prosecutors told the Old Bailey court the shooting was “not reasonably justified or justifiable”. Kaba was struck by a single gunshot fired into the vehicle he was driving in the Streatham area of south London. His car, which was linked to a firearms incident the previous day, was being followed by police at the time,…

THE case of two black women who were allegedly shot and fed to pigs by a white farmer and two of his workers has caused outrage in South Africa. Maria Makgato, 45, and Lucia Ndlovu, 34, were allegedly looking for food on the farm near Polokwane in South Africa’s northern Limpopo province in August when they were shot. Their bodies were then alleged to have been given to pigs in an apparent attempt to dispose of the evidence. A court has begun hearing whether to grant bail to farm owner Zachariah Johannes Olivier, 60, and his employees Adrian de Wet,…

A TOP Sudanese general has said the army will press on with its offensive despite international efforts to broker a ceasefire in the 17-month civil war. “Peace talks can go on, but the army will not stop for that,” Assistant Commander-in-Chief Lt Gen Ibrahim Gabir told the BBC. He was speaking just days after the army launched an operation to regain control of the capital, Khartoum, from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The two sides have been fighting since April last year, when their leaders fell out over the country’s future. This has created a humanitarian catastrophe with more…

KAI Havertz and Bukayo Saka inspired Arsenal’s 2-0 success against Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday as the Gunners secured their first win in the Champions League this season. Havertz headed Arsenal into the lead and Saka netted before the interval to underline their superiority at the Emirates Stadium. After drawing their opening league phase tie at Atalanta, Mikel Arteta’s side moved onto four points in their bid to reach the knockout stage of the revamped tournament. Eliminated by Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals last season and pipped to the English title by Manchester City, the Gunners are now unbeaten…

TENSIONS have been growing between arch-rivals Israel and Iran since the start of the war in Gaza, following the unprecedented attack on Israel launched by Hamas on October 7, 2023. Here is a roundup of key dates leading up to Iran’s barrage of missiles against Israel on Tuesday: Hamas attack On October 8, 2023, a day after militants from Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attack Israel, late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi says Iran supports the Palestinians’ “legitimate defence”. He accuses Israel of “endangering the security of nations in the region”. In central Tehran, banners are raised showing solidarity with the Palestinians.…