Author: Editor

THE UK government and police breathed a sigh of relief on Thursday after further anticipated far-right riots failed to materialise overnight and thousands of anti-racism protesters massed on the streets instead. The anti-racism demonstrations on Wednesday evening passed off almost entirely peacefully after police flooded the streets of numerous English towns and cities and reiterated violence by suspected far-right agitators would not be tolerated. It follows a week of near-nightly riots — during which mosques and migrant-related facilities have been attacked — nationwide and in Northern Ireland. The violence was fuelled by misinformation spread on social media about the suspected…

ZAMBIAN police said Thursday they had arrested opposition politician Fred M’membe over a post alleging the DR Congo leader claimed to have paid his Zambian counterpart millions of dollars to buy off criticism. M’membe, leader of the small Socialist Party, was arrested for “the offence of seditious practices,” police said in a statement. A journalist and lawyer, M’membe, 65, has regularly clashed with authorities for his outspoken criticism of Zambia’s government. The police said they acted after M’membe posted on social media on July 16. An article entitled President Felix “Tshisekedi tells DRC Catholic Bishops about the USD 20 million…

KENYAN police have fired tear gas to disperse small groups of anti-government protesters in the capital, Nairobi, demanding better governance as a new cabinet was sworn in. Businesses in the city were closed and public transport paralysed as police mounted roadblocks on major roads to bar protesters from accessing the central business district. The demonstrations are a continuation of months-long anti-tax protests that have since morphed into calls for President William Ruto to resign. The youth-led protests have already forced the president to withdraw planned additional taxes and dissolve his cabinet. Mr Ruto has appointed senior opposition officials to his…

THE Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has blamed Israel for the attack that killed Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh last week in Iran, which has vowed to retaliate. A statement issued after an extraordinary meeting of the 57-member bloc on Wednesday in Saudi Arabia said it “holds Israel, the illegal occupying power, fully responsible for this heinous attack”, which it described as “a serious infringement” of Iran’s sovereignty. The Gambia’s Foreign Minister Mamadou Tangara, whose country chairs OIC, said Haniyeh’s “heinous” assassination and the ongoing war in Gaza could lead to a regional conflict. “The aggression and violation of the…

A PAKISTANI official with ties to Iran has been arrested for allegedly plotting to assassinate a US official in retaliation for the US killing of Revolutionary Guards commander Qassem Soleimani, the Justice Department said Tuesday. Asif Raza Merchant, 46, allegedly sought to hire a hitman to assassinate a politician or a US government official in the United States, the department said in a statement. “For years, the Justice Department has been working aggressively to counter Iran’s brazen and unrelenting efforts to retaliate against American public officials for the killing of Iranian General Soleimani,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said. Soleimani, the…

THE West African Defence chiefs have called for the enthronement of civilian rule among member states, insisting it is the best option. The Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Christopher Musa, who made the call, urged West African Chiefs of Defence Staff to uphold democratic values. Musa stated this Wednesday at the 42 Committee of ECOWAS Chiefs of Defence Staff meeting in Abuja. This newspaper reports that Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso Defence Chiefs shunned the meeting despite being invited. He said the military’s change of government in West African countries has had unintended consequences and threatened their democratic values in…

RUSSIA has accused Ukraine of opening a “second front” in the war between them in Africa after Mali and Niger broke off diplomatic relations with Kyiv, accusing it of supporting “terrorist groups”. The claim by Moscow followed an announcement from Niger’s military government on Tuesday that it has cut ties with Ukraine. Several states in West Africa have recently ditched longstanding ties with the West to turn to Russia. Niamey said on Tuesday that the change in relations with Ukraine would happen “with immediate effect”. The move was in line with that of neighbouring Mali’s military government, which on Sunday…

ATLETICO Madrid have agreed an £81.5m deal to sign Manchester City forward Julian Alvarez. The fee is made up of an initial £64.4m (75m euros) with a further £17.1m (20m euros) in potential add-ons. It would be a record sale for City, surpassing the £50m Chelsea paid for Raheem Sterling in 2022. Alvarez said he would wait until Argentina’s involvement in the 2024 Olympics football ended before making a decision on his future. The team were knocked out by hosts France last Friday. City manager Pep Guardiola had been keen to keep the 24-year-old, and said earlier in August he…

HAMAS says it has chosen Yahya Sinwar, its top official in Gaza, as the new leader of its political bureau. The selection of Sinwar follows Ismail Haniyeh’s assassination in Tehran on July 31, the Palestinian group said on Tuesday. “The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas announces the selection of Commander Yahya Sinwar as the head of the political bureau of the movement, succeeding the martyr Commander Ismail Haniyeh, may [God] have mercy on him,” the group said in a brief statement. Sinwar, 61, is seen by Israel as the mastermind behind the October 7 attack by Hamas inside Israeli territory, in…

VICE President Kamala Harris had just 16 days to pick someone she could be linked to forever. She ended up going with one of the options that she — and the rest of the world — knew the least. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was a dark horse from the start, left off early lists of potential running mates. But no one used the 16 days since President Joe Biden stepped aside more effectively than Walz, who charmed Harris and national Democrats alike with a Diet Mountain Dew-fueled media tour that labeled the opposition as “weird” and won him a spot…

TWO years after a global outbreak, fears are rife that a new strain of mpox — previously known as monkeypox — identified in DR Congo and now also in several neighbouring countries could further spread. Deadlier and more transmissible than previous forms, the mpox strain surging in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since September, known as the Clade Ib subclade, is spread person-to-person. The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Sunday it was considering convening an expert committee to advise on whether to declare an international emergency, as it did during the global mpox outbreak in 2022. The Clade…

SOUTH African police said they rescued 90 Ethiopian migrants who were being held against their will at a property in Johannesburg. Police carried out a search at the property on Sunday for a person reported to have been kidnapped and discovered the migrants, they said. Two people were arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and human trafficking. The alleged kidnapping victim was also rescued, police said Monday. The Ethiopian migrants are believed to have been illegally trafficked. They were packed into small rooms and kept locked up, police said. They were taken to a hospital for medical care and the two…

SUBSTITUTE Juanlu Sanchez struck a late winner as Spain came from behind to beat Morocco 2-1 on Monday and reach the final of the Olympic men’s football. Morocco had led in the semi-final through a Soufiane Rahimi penalty towards the end of the first half at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille. However, Barcelona’s Fermin Lopez equalised midway through the second period and then set up Sevilla right-back Sanchez to fire in the winner. It is Spain’s second consecutive appearance in the final of the Olympic men’s football. They had to settle for silver three years ago in Tokyo after losing…

ISRAEL has returned the bodies of nearly 90 Palestinians killed in its military offensive in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Ministry of Health has said. Yamen Abu Suleiman, the director of the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, said on Monday that it was unclear whether the bodies had been dug up from cemeteries by the army during the ground offensive, or whether they were “detainees who had been tortured and killed”. “The occupation provided us with no information about the names, or ages, or anything. This is a war crime, a crime against humanity,” Abu…

A JUDGE in the United States has ruled that Google spent billions of dollars to create an illegal monopoly for its search engine, exploiting its dominance to squash competition and stifle innovation. Monday’s landmark decision that Google broke antitrust law marks the first major success for US authorities taking on the dominance of Big Tech, which has come under fire from across the political spectrum. “The court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” US District Judge Amit Mehta wrote in his 277-page ruling. Google’s dominance in the search…

SECURITY forces in Somalia’s southern city of Kismayo have seized hundreds of Islamic face veils from female residents, the city’s police chief says. Warsame Ahmed Gelle told state TV that authorities have been conducting operations to “fight” the veils, also known as niqabs. The crackdown was sparked by concerns that jihadists could conceal their identity and carry out attacks, Mr Warsame said. Large parts of southern and central Somalia are controlled by al-Shabab, which is affiliated to al-Qaeda and has waged a brutal insurgency for nearly 20 years against the UN-backed government in Somalia. On Friday dozens were killed in…

MALI says it has cut diplomatic relations with Ukraine, after a military official suggested Kyiv had played a role in deadly fighting near the Algerian border last month. Dozens of Malian soldiers and mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner group were killed in days of clashes with Tuareg separatist rebels and fighters linked to al-Qaeda. Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for Ukrainian military intelligence, said last week that the rebels had been given the “necessary information” to conduct the attacks. A top Malian official, Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga, said his government was shocked to hear the claim and accused Ukraine of violating Mali’s sovereignty.…

BANGLADESH’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has resigned and fled the country following weeks of deadly demonstrations. The removal of Hasina on Monday followed weeks of deadly protests and appears to have averted the threat of further bloodshed. The focus now moves to who will control the South Asian country. In an address to the nation, army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman announced that an interim government will now run Bangladesh and called for calm. Hasina, who ruled the country for close to two decades, boarded a military helicopter on Monday, an aide told Al Jazeera, as huge crowds ignored a national curfew…

A HAT-TRICK from Erling Haaland helped Manchester City to a 4-2 pre-season win over error-prone Chelsea in Columbus. Haaland, 24, scored twice in the first five minutes, profiting from two disastrous Chelsea mistakes as Enzo Maresca’s side gifted the Premier League champions an early lead. The first goal came from a Tosin Adarabioyo loose pass, with Levi Colwill bringing down Haaland for a fourth-minute penalty, which the Norwegian scored after a re-take. Haaland doubled City’s lead almost straight away when he intercepted a miscued Moises Caicedo pass to slot in. Another quick-fire pair of soft goals in the second half…

At LEAST 30 people have been killed and many others injured in Israeli strikes on two United Nations-run schools in the west of Gaza City. The latest death toll was reported to Al Jazeera by Dr Marwan al-Hams, the director of hospitals in the Gaza Ministry of Health. According to the Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza, 80 percent of those killed and injured in the strikes on Sunday on the Hassan Salama and al-Nasr schools were children. Reporting from Deir el-Balah, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said that the schools, which have been used as shelters by displaced Palestinians, have been…