Author: Editor

AN attack that reportedly killed over 100 soldiers on an army base in Burkina Faso has snowballed into speculation about unrest in the security forces, in a country where the military has been in power since 2022. The leader of the military junta has since appeared on state TV in an attempt to debunk the rumours. Burkina Faso has been battling Islamist insurgents for several years and about half the country is outside government control. Jihadist group Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) has said it was behind last Tuesday’s attack in the northern town of Mansila. The following day, there…

FRIENDS and family searched for missing hajj pilgrims on Wednesday as the death toll at the annual rituals, which were carried out in scorching heat, surged past 900. Relatives scoured hospitals and pleaded online for news, fearing the worst after temperatures hit 51.8 degrees Celsius (125 Fahrenheit) in Mecca, Islam’s holiest city, on Monday. About 1.8 million people from all over the world, many old and infirm, took part in the days-long, mostly outdoor pilgrimage, which this year fell during the oven-like Saudi summer. An Arab diplomat told AFP that deaths among Egyptians alone had jumped to “at least 600”,…

ALBANIA left Croatia in danger of a group-stage exit from Euro 2024 after a thrilling 2-2 draw on Wednesday as Albania’s Klaus Gjasula scored at both ends, including a dramatic injury-time equaliser. After a disappointing 3-0 loss to Spain in their opener, Croatia were behind again when Qazim Laci gave Albania an early lead in Hamburg. But Croatia improved after making two half-time substitutions and Andrej Kramaric levelled with 16 minutes remaining, before Gjasula put through his own net. The Albania midfielder became the last-gasp hero, though, slotting into the bottom corner in the fifth minute of injury time to…

THE Israeli military’s “deliberate” use of heavy weapons in the Gaza Strip has been an “intentional and direct attack on the civilian population”, a new report by a United Nations-backed independent commission has found. Navi Pillay, chairperson of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said on Wednesday that Israel has committed crimes against humanity, forced starvation, extermination, murder, and inhuman and cruel treatment of Palestinians. She also accused Palestinian groups of war crimes. As she presented the report to the UN Human Rights Council, Pillay said the Israeli military operating in Gaza “forcibly transferred almost…

RUSSIA said Wednesday it had presented its ideas for a prisoner swap to the United States and was waiting for a response, days before it was set to put US reporter Evan Gershkovich on trial. Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, was arrested in March 2023 on espionage charges rejected as false by his family, employer and the White House. President Vladimir Putin said in February that talks on a prisoner swap involving the journalist were under way, but the Kremlin has not given any details on the progress of the negotiations. “The ball is in the court of the…

THE President of Guinea-Bissau Umaro Sissoco Embalo told AFP Wednesday that he ordered the partial closure of its border with Senegal after deadly clashes erupted between two Muslim communities. The two communities in southern Senegal have long been at loggerheads over control of the local main mosque and accuse each other of being at the root of tensions that have led to several deaths in the past. During Eid on Monday, clashes between the two communities erupted in the holy town of Medina Gounass — just a few kilometres from Guinea-Bissau. One person died and around 20 others were injured,…

KENYA’s government has scrapped some proposed taxes in this year’s controversial finance bill, including a 16% levy on bread, after a public outcry. The announcement by MPs came as police fired tear gas and used water cannon to try to disperse angry protesters in the capital, Nairobi. Dozens of people have been arrested, and lawyers earlier joined chanting crowds at the city’s main police station to demand that detainees be freed. Since coming to office in 2022, President William Ruto has introduced several new and unpopular taxes with the aim of eliminating the country’s national debt of nearly $80bn (£63bn).…

YOUNGSTER Francisco Conceicao snatched Portugal a last-gasp 2-1 win over the Czech Republic in their Euro 2024 Group F opener on Tuesday just minutes after coming off the bench. The 21-year-old Porto winger capitalised from close range after the Czechs were unable to clear a cross, completing his team’s comeback. The Czechs went ahead against the run of play through Lukas Provod’s fine strike from the edge of the box after the hour mark. Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal did not shine but dug just deep enough to claim victory, with Robin Hranac’s own goal pulling them level before Conceicao’s dramatic winner.…

LOCAL authorities in Gaza on Tuesday raised the alarm of over 3,500 children across the Gaza Strip being at risk of hunger amid Israel’s ongoing tightened siege and the closure of aid crossings. In a statement, the Gaza-based Government Media Office said Gaza is “rapidly” heading towards famine amid an “Israeli and US conspiracy to prevent” humanitarian aid from entering Gaza. “3,500 children are threatened by death due to malnutrition and lack of nutritional supplements and vaccines which became part of the prohibited items to enter Gaza,” the statement said, referring to Israeli restrictions. It added that “the crime of…

NVIDIA edged ahead of other tech companies Tuesday to become the world’s most valuable publicly traded company in the latest sign of the might of artificial intelligence. The chip company, which has enjoyed a monumental ascent over the last 18 months amid enthusiasm over generative AI, jumped 3.4 percent near 1:25 pm (1725 GMT), giving it a market capitalisation of about $3.3 trillion, slightly ahead of Microsoft and Apple. The California-based company, which is led by Jensen Huang, has seen profits soar due to torrid demand for its powerful GPU chips, which have set the industry’s pace in pushing new…

DIPLOMATS said on Tuesday that at least 550 pilgrims died during the hajj, underscoring the gruelling nature of the pilgrimage which again unfolded in scorching temperatures this year. At least 323 of those who died were Egyptians, most of them succumbing to heat-related illnesses, the two Arab diplomats coordinating their countries’ responses told AFP. “All of them (the Egyptians) died because of heat” except for one who sustained fatal injuries during a minor crowd crush, one of the diplomats said, adding the total figure came from the hospital morgue in the Al-Muaisem neighbourhood of Mecca. At least 60 Jordanians also…

A FRESH UN fact-finding team examining abuses in Sudan’s brutal civil war said Tuesday it was investigating reports of sexual slavery in detention facilities and ethnic-based attacks on civilians. War has raged for more than a year between the regular military under army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo. The recently-established UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission had “received credible reports of many cases of sexual violence being committed by the warring factions”, mission chief Mohammed Chande Othman told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. “Women and girls…

THE Nigeria team has won bronze at the 2024 Chovken World Championship held in Baku, Azerbaijan. Nura Kangiwa, patron of NSK polo team, disclosed this in a statement by Joesef Karim, Media Assistant to Vice President, African Region, International Chovken Federation on Monday in Abuja. Kangiwa, who is also the Chairman, African Region of the International Chovken Federation, said that Nigeria drew 1-1 with Uzbekistan to win bronze on points from previous matches. “This is the first time Nigeria participated in any global Chovken, an ancient equestrian sport similar to polo. “Team Nigeria’s build-up to the finals, Nigeria beat Germany…

MAXIMILIAN Woeber’s own goal was enough to give France a winning start to their Euro 2024 campaign on Monday as they edged Austria 1-0 in their opening game but Kylian Mbappe came off late on with a bloodied nose. Woeber diverted Mbappe’s cutback into his own net seven minutes before half-time in Duesseldorf to allow the French, one of the leading contenders to win the tournament, to come through a stiff test. Austria have been much-improved under Ralf Rangnick and their pressing game often made life uncomfortable for the 2022 World Cup runners-up, who saw Mbappe leave the field near…

LAZZARINI, commissioner general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), the main organisation delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza, said that there had been no pause in the fighting. “There has been information that such a decision has been taken, but the political level says none of this decision has been taken,” Lazzarini told a press conference on Monday. “So for the time being, I can tell you that hostilities continue in Rafah and in the south of Gaza. And that operationally, nothing has changed yet.” The Israeli military said on Monday that its forces were…

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin will visit North Korea this week for the first time in 24 years, the two countries say, a rare trip that underscores Moscow’s burgeoning partnership with the nuclear-armed state. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un extended an invitation to Putin when Kim visited Russia’s Far East in September. “At the invitation of the Chairman of State Affairs of the DPRK, Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin will pay a friendly state visit to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on June 18-19,” the Kremlin said on Monday. North Korea’s state news agency, KCNA, also announced the visit…

MOHANAD el-Balal is one of many Sudanese civilians doing everything they can to ward off a devastating famine – and there is one man whose photograph he will never forget. Sadiq, a middle-aged father, grips the arms of his wheelchair tightly to keep himself upright, his painfully thin legs poking out in front of him. Sadig “is in a wheelchair, but he’s not disabled” Mr Balal says: “He’s just so malnourished that he has lost the ability to walk.” Mr Balal, based in the UK, is one of the co-founders of Khartoum Aid Kitchen, which provides food keeping tens of…

SOUTH Africa’s former President, Jacob Zuma, has said his political party – uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) – will join the opposition alliance in parliament. He said it would co-ordinate resistance to the governing coalition led by the African National Congress (ANC). Despite this, MK said it maintained that last month’s elections were rigged and wanted the results annulled. Mr Zuma’s speech on Sunday was read by MK spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela who said the ANC was no longer part of the solution. Mr Zuma said there was no government of national unity in South Africa and described the partnership as a “white-led…

THE Presidency has reacted to a report published in the New York Times criticising the Nigerian economy as facing the worst trajectory in a generation. Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, responded on Sunday to the report by Ruth Maclean and Ismail Auwal. According to the Presidency, the feature story, titled ‘Nigeria Confronts Its Worst Economic Crisis in a Generation’ and published on June 11, reflected the typical predetermined, reductionist, derogatory, and denigrating way foreign media establishments have reported on African countries for decades. Onanuga stated that due to the ‘misleading’ slant of the report,…

JUDE Bellingham got England’s Euro 2024 campaign off to a winning start but a 1-0 victory over Serbia in Gelsenkirchen failed to dispel doubts over the Three Lions’ quest to become European champions for the first time. Bellingham was in a class of his own in Gelsenkirchen as the Real Madrid midfielder’s header on 13 minutes capped a fine individual display. But collectively England failed to match the standards Germany and Spain showed in romping to victory in their opening matches. Expectations on England ahead of a major tournament have rarely ever been higher but they had won just one…