AT LEAST 91 people have been killed, including 13 police officers, and dozens more injured in a new round of violence in Bangladesh as police fired tear gas and lobbed stun grenades to disperse tens of thousands of protesters who returned to the streets to ask Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign. The deaths were reported by the police and doctors on Sunday in the capital Dhaka and the northern districts of Bogura, Pabna and Rangpur, as well as in Magura in the west, Comilla in the east, and Barisal and Feni in the south. The attack on the police…
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THE Horn of Africa would experience below-average rainfall during the October-December season, potentially leading to drought conditions, international agencies warned on Friday. The agencies, which include the United Nations World Food Programme, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and the Climate Prediction and Applications Center (ICPAC) of the East African bloc of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, said in an alert that climate models have predicted a transition to La Nina conditions during the second half of 2024, which could bring below-average rainfall. “The greatest impacts are expected in central and southern Somalia, southern Ethiopia, and…
AFRICAN finance ministers and central bank governors have outlined a four-point strategy to enhance intra-African trade and stimulate economic growth. The plan agreed upon at the 2024 African Caucus Meeting in Abuja, focuses on strengthening payment systems, improving energy access, leveraging partnerships with banks, and reforming the global financial architecture. The meeting, held amidst a challenging global economic climate, stressed the need to increase intra-African trade as a catalyst for job creation and investment. While acknowledging Africa’s economic resilience, the leaders emphasized the continent’s low share of global trade, currently at 14.4 percent. To address this, the caucus called for…
THE locker Kobe Bryant used for the majority of his legendary NBA career sold for $2.9 million on Friday in New York, as part of an auction of rare sports memorabilia at Sotheby’s. The price for the Staples Center locker, which Bryant used while playing for the Los Angeles Lakers, nearly doubled the $1.5 million it was estimated to fetch. Bryant, an 18-time NBA All-Star guard, was killed in a 2020 helicopter crash at age 41. He spent his entire NBA career from 1996-2016 with the Lakers. A maintenance worker saved the locker from being discarded in 2018 during renovations…
AT least nine people, including a local commander of Hamas’s military wing, have been killed in two separate Israeli air strikes near Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank. Medical sources confirmed to Al Jazeera on Saturday that one of the people killed in the first attack was Haitham Balidi, leader of the Qassam Brigades in the Nablus area. Another person was identified by a relative as one of the leaders of al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group. The identities of the other people were not immediately clear. Family members went to a hospital in Tulkarem…
PROTESTERS in Bangladesh have taken to the streets to demand justice for the more than 200 people killed in last month’s student-led demonstrations over quotas in government jobs. The large protests on Saturday came as student leaders called for a nationwide civil disobedience campaign until Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government resigns. Students Against Discrimination, the group responsible for organising the initial protests, rebuffed an offer of talks with Hasina earlier in the day. “She must resign and she must face trial,” Nahid Islam, the group’s leader, told a crowd of thousands at a monument to national heroes in the capital…
THE civil war in Sudan has pushed a camp housing about 500,000 displaced people near the besieged Darfur city of el-Fasher into famine, an independent group of food security experts says. The 16-month conflict and restrictions on aid deliveries were to blame, the Famine Review Committee (FRC) concluded after looking at new data. “The scale of devastation brought by the escalating violence in el-Fasher is profound and harrowing,” it said, explaining how Zamzam camp’s population had ballooned since April. The war – a power struggle between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – has created the world’s…
AT least 32 people have been killed and many more wounded in a suicide bombing and gun attack on a popular beach in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, according to officials. Al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda-linked armed group, claimed responsibility for the attack on Lido Beach late on Friday via an affiliated radio station. The assault began when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance of Beach View Hotel. Several other attackers tried to storm the hotel and also fired on people on the beach, where many residents were walking or sitting, according to witnesses and police. “More than 32 civilians died…
FRANCE set up an Olympic men’s football semi-final with Egypt after beating Argentina 1-0 in a hostile quarter-final marred by ugly scenes at the final whistle. Players and coaches from both sides clashed on the pitch at the end as the hosts booked their last-four spot. Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta got France’s winner when he headed home Michael Olise’s fifth-minute corner at the near post. Argentina’s best chance came just before half-time with Giuliano Simeone heading over from close range. France had a late goal ruled out as the video assistant referee (VAR) ruled Maghnes Akliouche had fouled an…
THE United States will deploy additional warships and fighter jets to the Middle East to help defend Israel from possible attacks by Iran and its proxies, the Pentagon said. Tensions remain high in the region over the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran and a key commander of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Missile defence forces were placed on a state of increased readiness to deploy, the Pentagon said, adding that its commitment to defend Israel was “ironclad”. Iran’s leader Ayatollah Khamenei has vowed “harsh punishment” against Israel for the assassination of Haniyeh, and declared three days of…
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has revoked a pre-trial agreement reached with men accused of plotting the 11 September terrorist attacks. In a memo on Friday, Mr Austin also said he was revoking the authority of the officer overseeing the military court who signed the agreement on Wednesday. The original deal, which would reportedly have spared the alleged attackers the death penalty, was criticised by some families of victims. The memo named five defendants including the alleged ringleader of the plot, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, all of whom are held in Guantánamo Bay. The original deal named three men. “I have…
SUDAN’s ruler General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan ruled out negotiation with paramilitaries after he survived a drone attack on Wednesday in the war-torn country’s east. The army said five people were killed in a drone attack on a ceremony at the Gibet base, where Burhan was overseeing a graduation ceremony. “We will not retreat, we will not surrender, and we will not negotiate,” Burhan, who appeared unharmed, told troops at the Gibet base after the attack. “We are not scared of drones,” he said at the Gibet base, about 100 kilometres (62 miles) from Port Sudan, where the army-aligned government fled…
THE ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS) Task Force has urged the Republic of Benin and Niger Republic to put aside their differences through dialogue and reopen their common frontier. The Task Force Chairman, Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, made the call in a statement made available to this newspaper in Abuja on Friday on the recent high-level dialogue between the two countries. He commended the efforts made by two former presidents of Benin, Nicephore Soglo and Thomas Boni Yayi, to normalise the free movement of persons and of goods between the two countries, which had been interrupted since July 2023. Chambas…
US Vice President Kamala Harris effectively secured the Democratic party’s presidential nomination Friday, confirming her remarkable rise to party standard bearer in November’s showdown against Republican Donald Trump. Harris was the sole candidate on the ballot for a five-day electronic vote of nearly 4,000 party convention delegates. She will be officially crowned at a Chicago convention later this month. “I am honored to be the presumptive Democratic nominee for President of the United States,” Harris, 59, said on a phone-in to a party celebration after securing enough votes by the second day of the marathon vote. In the two weeks…
SAUDI Arabia has submitted plans to build 11 stadiums – including one set 350 metres above ground level – as part of the country’s bid to host the 2034 World Cup. The proposed stadium in Neom, an as-yet-unbuilt city in the north-west of the country, will only be accessible via high-speed lifts and driverless vehicles. The arena, which is part of the country’s ‘The Line’ project to diversify the kingdom’s economy away from oil, is set to host a quarter-final fixture. Saudi Arabia’s bid is uncontested and the country had until October’s deadline to submit its plans. Of the 11…
HEZBOLLAH leader Hassan Nasrallah has said the war with Israel has “entered a new phase” as he addressed crowds of supporters who had gathered for the funeral of Fuad Shukr, the group’s senior commander who was killed in an Israeli strike in Beirut. Nasrallah said on Thursday that Hezbollah is considering a “real, studied” response to the attack, rather than a symbolic one, adding that several countries had urged the Lebanese group against retaliating. Israel has “crossed red lines” and a response is “inevitable”, Nasrallah said, adding that a regional escalation will depend upon Israel’s response to the upcoming reprisal.…
RUSSIA has freed Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich and ex-US Marine Paul Whelan as part of an extensive prisoner swap between Moscow and the West, US President Joe Biden has confirmed. “Today, three American citizens and one American green-card holder who were unjustly imprisoned in Russia are finally coming home: Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva, and Vladimir Kara-Murza,” Biden said in a statement on Thursday. “The deal that secured their freedom was a feat of diplomacy.” The West obtained the release of 16 people from Russia, including five Germans and seven Russian political prisoners, according to the United…
A COURT in Guinea has sentenced former military ruler Moussa Dadis Camara to 20 years in prison for crimes against humanity. The charges stemmed from one of the worst massacres in the nation’s history – the killing of more than 156 people after troops opened fire at a rally held in September 2009 to demand a return civilian rule. Camara took power in a coup when long-time President Lansana Conté died in 2008, but he fled the country after surviving an assassination attempt not long after the massacre. He returned from exile in Burkina Faso in September 2022 to face…
SIX children were killed after a train collided with a school bus in South Africa, injuring 19 other pupils, the government said on Thursday. The accident occurred on Wednesday afternoon near the village of Mafube, close to the city of Middelburg, about 180 kilometres (110 miles) northeast of Johannesburg, according to local media. The death toll for the accident was revised up to six on Thursday morning from an initial five. “The sixth learner succumbed to injuries while receiving treatment at the nearby hospital,” the provincial transport department said in a statement. The crash happened when the school bus, which…
FORMER Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp says it would be “the biggest loss of face in the history of football” if he were to take the England job. The German is among those to have been linked with the vacancy since Gareth Southgate stepped down after England’s defeat by Spain in the final of Euro 2024. Klopp, 57, left Liverpool at the end of last season saying he was “running out of energy” after nine years with the Reds during which he delivered the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup, two League Cups, Fifa Club World Cup and Uefa Super Cup.…