MOROCCAN opposition figure and former minister Mohamed Ziane has been sentenced to five years in prison while serving a three-year term in another case, his lawyer said on Saturday. The former Rabat bar association president was convicted on charges of “embezzlement and squandering of public funds,” the lawyer Ali Reda Ziane, who is also his son, told AFP. The charges relate to funds the Moroccan Liberal Party (PML), of which Mohamed Ziane was the founder and chief, received in a 2015 electoral campaign. “This is a form of life sentence for an 81-year-old man, while legally nothing has been proven,”…
Author: Editor
KENYA’s embattled president has announced a plan to form a new “broad-based government” following weeks of deadly anti-government protests sparked by an unpopular tax bill. However, six of the 11 ministers President William Ruto proposed in Friday’s address were from the cabinet he sacked just last week. When dismissing that cabinet, Mr Ruto had said the move came after “reflection and listening to Kenyans”. On Friday, he said the “crisis” Kenya was experiencing was lesser than the “opportunity” before the country. The demonstrations, in which more than 40 people died, began as a response to the tax rises. However, after…
THE reinstated deputy governor of Edo State, Philip Shaibu, on Friday accused his principal, Godwin Obaseki, of denying him entry into the state. Over the past few months, Shaibu and Obaseki have been at loggerheads over issues regarding the governorship election in the state. The 54-year-old, stated this during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, two days after Federal High Court in Abuja ordered his reinstatement as deputy governor. “Yesterday, I got intel that the governor has told his men that they must not allow me into town. I am a free-born of Edo State, nobody can stop me…
ATALANTA have set a €70m price tag on Nigerian forward Ademola Lookman, PUNCH Sports Extra reports. The Bergamo-based club are willing to let the forward depart this summer, but only if their financial demands are met. The asking price is similar to the fee they received from Manchester United for Rasmus Hojlund in 2024. Lookman, who joined Atalanta from RB Leipzig for €10 million in 2022, was instrumental in securing back-to-back European qualifications for the club. His standout performance came in the UEFA Europa League final, where he netted a historic hat-trick against Bayer Leverkusen, becoming the first player to…
THE International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory is unlawful and should come to an end “as rapidly as possible”. Nawaf Salam, president of the ICJ in The Hague, read out the nonbinding advisory opinion issued by the 15-judge panel on Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory on Friday. The judges pointed to a wide list of policies – including the building and expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, use of the area’s natural resources, the annexation and imposition of permanent control over lands and discriminatory policies…
AT least 40 migrants have died after a boat they were travelling in caught fire off the northern coast of Haiti, a UN agency said Friday, with police saying the explosion was sparked by a voodoo ritual gone wrong. The UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that the Haitian Coast Guard rescued 41 survivors, 11 of whom were hospitalized, including some for burns. But “at least 40 migrants have died, and several others were injured,” the IOM said. The fire began when a passenger lit a candle to start a voodoo ritual, police spokesperson Arold Jean said. Survivors told…
ZAMBIA’s President Hakinde Hichilema has taken the extraordinary step of firing the entire board of the country’s corruption-busting body, after they themselves were accused of corruption, which they deny. It comes days after the head of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), Thom Shamakamba, resigned from his post. Both he and the country’s solicitor-general – Marshal Muchende – were accused of taking kickbacks. Both men strongly deny the allegations. Since Mr Hichilema came to power three years ago, the authorities have been investigating a number officials from the former government accused of graft. Now, the explosive allegations are that ACC officials have…
KENYAN President William Ruto has announced a partial cabinet after weeks of antigovernment protests. In a televised address on Friday, Ruto announced 11 appointments, which include six members from the previous cabinet. The East African nation has been rocked by a month of protests that began as peaceful rallies against tax hikes but have evolved into a wider antigovernment campaign calling for Ruto to go. At least 50 people have died since the protests began on June 18, according to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights. Last week, Ruto fired almost his entire cabinet, one in a series of…
MULTIPLE US airlines said they were beginning to resume operations Friday following a major worldwide computer systems outage that grounded or delayed thousands of flights across the country. The IT issue has wrought global havoc at airports, grounding flights in Europe and the United States, while also derailing television broadcasts in the UK and impacting telecommunications in Australia. At Dulles International Airport outside of Washington, Evyn Garson told AFP she and her family had been trying to travel to Florida for a wedding, but now “feel kind of stuck.” “We definitely considered just driving down there. But now it looks…
BUSINESSES including banks, airlines, telecommunications companies, TV and radio broadcasters, and supermarkets have been taken offline after blue screen of death error screens were seen on Windows workstations across the globe. Users on the subreddit for cyber security firm Crowdstrike reported issues in India, the United States and New Zealand. Major US air carriers including Delta, United and American Airlines grounded all flights early on Friday over a communication issue, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. “All… flights regardless of destination” were grounded due to the “communication issues”, the FAA said in a notice to airlines. Equities sank Friday as…
ISRAEL’s parliament has passed a resolution that overwhelmingly rejected the establishment of a Palestinian state, Israeli media reported. The resolution passed in the Knesset with 68 votes in favour and just nine against it early on Thursday. It said that a Palestinian state would pose “an existential danger to the State of Israel and its citizens, perpetuate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and destabilize the region”. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition with far-right parties co-sponsored the resolution. Opposition leader Yair Lapid’s centre-left party left the session to avoid supporting the statement, despite previously saying he favoured a two-state solution, the Times of…
A COUNTER sniper flagged a suspicious man using a rangefinder to the US Secret Service some 20 minutes before a gunman opened fire at a Donald Trump rally, according to members of Congress briefed by law enforcement. A clearer timeline of the events leading up to the assassination attempt has begun to emerge after closed briefings to lawmakers on Wednesday. Local police had initially spotted the gunman, who was acting strangely, at Saturday’s Pennsylvania rally about an hour before the shooting, according to the briefings. They lost him in the crowd before he was spotted again by the counter sniper.…
A KENYAN court has suspended a police ban on protests in the capital, stating that citizens have a right to demonstrate peacefully. Before the High Court’s decision on Thursday, police had barred protests in Nairobi indefinitely, saying they lacked leadership that would ensure peaceful demonstrations. The judge issued a “conservatory order” to prevent the ban from being enforced, pending a final ruling on the case. The court said it will hold another hearing on July 29. The suspension came before a planned protest, in which demonstrators were expected to march to the president’s office calling for his resignation over poor…
RWANDA’s President Paul Kagame has smashed his own record by winning Monday’s elections with more than 99% of the vote, full provisional results show. The 66-year-old won the 2017 election with 98.63% of the vote, higher than the 93% he got in 2010 and the 95% in 2003. His critics say Mr Kagame’s thundering majorities come as no surprise as he rules with an iron hand. However, his supporters say they point to his huge popularity, with Rwanda having achieved stability and economic growth under his rule. Mr Kagame is a former rebel commander whose forces swept to power in…
UMARA, son of the Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, on Thursday, denied allegation of killing someone in India. The state government had earlier debunked report of the governor’s son’s arrest over the alleged murder. According to social media reports, Umara, a student at a university in New Delhi, reportedly smashed a bottle of alcoholic drink on a Chinese national who showed interest in the same lady with him at a nightclub. Debunking the reports, Abdurrahman Ahmed Bundi, Senior Special Assistant to Governor Zulum on New Media, in a statement on Wednesday, said none of the governor’s sons “was either arrested…
EURO 2024 winners Spain have six players, including 17-year-old star Lamine Yamal, in the team of the tournament unveiled by UEFA on Tuesday. The lineup, presented in a 4-3-3 formation, features players from various nations who excelled throughout the competition, but however, dominated by winners Spain. In goal, France’s Mike Maignan gets the nod after a series of impressive performances. The defence comprises England’s Kyle Walker, Switzerland’s Manuel Akanji, France’s William Saliba, and Spain’s Marc Cucurella. The midfield trio consists of Spain’s Rodri, Fabián Ruiz and Dani Olmo. The forward line is particularly exciting, featuring Germany’s Jamal Musiala as the…
ISRAEL’s policy toward the occupied West Bank is dooming any prospect of a two-state solution with the Palestinians, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said. Through administrative and legal steps, Israel is changing the geography of the West Bank, Guterres said in a statement read by his chief of staff, Courtenay Rattray, during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Wednesday. Settlement expansion is expected to speed up due to big land seizures in strategic areas and changes to planning, land management and governance, Guterres added. “Recent developments are driving a stake through the heart of any prospect…
A FLORIDA man has been arrested for making death threats against US President Joe Biden, just days after an assassination attempt on his Republican rival Donald Trump. Jason Patrick Alday, 39, was arrested on Monday, the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida said. Alday, of Quincy, Florida, allegedly “engaged in sending threatening communications, making threats against President Joe Biden and other federal officials,” the office said in an announcement Wednesday. According to the criminal complaint, Alday made threatening statements about Biden while being checked into a mental health facility in Tallahassee, Florida, last month. He allegedly made…
FLOODING caused by heavy rains lashing Niger since June has killed 53 people and impacted 18,000, as the west African country grapples with the effects of climate change, a UN agency announced on Wednesday. An earlier interior ministry toll published on June 20 recorded 21 deaths and nearly 6,000 people affected nationwide. As of July 15, the floods had claimed 53 lives, impacting 2,501 households and a total of 18,098 people, according to a United Nations OCHA report sent to AFP on Wednesday. Floodwaters also destroyed 1,636 homes, 29 classrooms, and killed 10,930 livestock, the agency said, citing the Niger…
KENYAN President William Ruto named Wednesday his foreign minister as “acting cabinet secretary” for all ministries, nearly a week after dismissing almost his entire cabinet in an attempt to defuse deadly anti-government rallies. The East African nation was left reeling after peaceful rallies last month over steep tax increases spiralled into violence that left dozens killed, and Ruto facing the most serious crisis of his presidency. Scrambling to contain the fallout, he has embarked on a series of measures, including scrapping the finance bill containing the tax hikes, announcing government cuts, and last week dismissing almost all of his cabinet.…