PRESIDENT William Ruto of Kenya has scrapped the budget for the office of first lady after nationwide protests. Ruto announced this in a live broadcast. “Offices such as that of the First Lady have existed before, but from tomorrow we are going to do away with that and other offices so that we can check our spending,” he said. Additionally, the President confirmed that Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) positions will not be filled, following a court ruling that declared the positions unconstitutional. “On CASs, the court declared themselves on that and we have respected that. No CAS will be appointed…
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ENGLAND’s quest for a first major tournament win in 58 years remained alive after another late fightback before beating Switzerland 5-3 on penalties to book their place in the Euro 2024 semi-finals. After the 120 minutes finished level at 1-1, goalkeeper Jordan Pickford was the Three Lions’ hero in the shoot-out as he saved Switzerland’s first spot-kick from Manuel Akanji. Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka, Ivan Toney and Trent Alexander-Arnold converted their penalties to send England into a semi-final meeting with Turkey or the Netherlands in Dortmund on Wednesday. After needing Bellingham’s 95th-minute equaliser before going on to beat…
AT least 16 Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli attack on a United Nations-run school sheltering displaced people in the Gaza Strip, the Gaza Government Media Office said, as Israel continues to pound the besieged coastal territory. In a statement on Saturday, the Government Media Office said more than 75 people also were injured in the attack on al-Jaouni school in central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp. “We condemn the Israeli occupation [for] committing these ongoing crimes and massacres against civilians, children and women,” it said. The Nuseirat facility, run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), is the…
BRITISH Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said he will not continue with the previous Conservative government’s policy to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, in a move welcomed by rights advocates as long overdue. “The Rwanda scheme was dead and buried before it started. It’s never been a deterrent,” Starmer told his first news conference on Saturday, after his Labour Party won a landslide in the general election. “I’m not prepared to continue with gimmicks that don’t act as a deterrent,” he told reporters after a cabinet meeting, describing the plan as a “problem that we are inheriting”. Parliament approved the…
THE military leaders of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have hailed a newly signed treaty as a step “towards greater integration” between the three countries, in the latest showing of their shift away from traditional regional and Western allies. During a summit in the Nigerien capital of Niamey on Saturday, the three leaders signed a confederation treaty that aims to strengthen a mutual defence pact announced last year, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES). The signing capped the first joint summit of the leaders – Niger’s General Abdourahmane Tchiani, Burkina Faso’s Captain Ibrahim Traore, and Mali’s Colonel Assimi Goita –…
THE willingness of Kenya’s President William Ruto to engage in a live audio discussion on X Spaces was keenly anticipated, coming just 10 days after deadly anti-government protests. The beginning, however, was cringeworthy. Participants struggled to connect. And there were three or four false starts. Finally, after a shaky first hour, someone who it was thought would be chairing a parallel conversation on X as a rival to the president’s efforts, hosted Mr Ruto’s interaction, which meant he had the power to decide who was allowed to speak. This was an X user who went by the name of Osama…
SPAIN kept themselves on course to win a fourth European Championship as Mikel Merino’s 119th-minute goal sent them into the semi-finals and eliminated hosts Germany following a pulsating encounter at Stuttgart Arena. This was the most anticipated match of the tournament so far as it put together the resurgent home nation against arguably the best-performing side to date at Euro 2024 – and it certainly lived up to expectation. Played with aggression, tension and drama the contest barely let those watching pause for breath from the moment Dani Olmo gave Spain the lead six minutes into the second half. The…
AN Israeli delegation has travelled to Qatar after a new Hamas proposal earlier this week generated renewed hope for a truce agreement, as fighting continues to rage across Gaza. The Israeli negotiators, led by spy chief David Barnea, met mediators in Doha on Friday, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. The talks were set to resume next week, the office said, when another negotiating team would be deployed to Qatar. The office added there were still “gaps between the parties” in their positions. The latest development came after Hamas on Wednesday said it had presented new “ideas” to…
IRAN’s Masoud Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon and lawmaker who has promised to reach out to the West, has won the presidential run-off by beating rival Saeed Jalili, the Ministry of Interior said. “By gaining [the] majority of the votes cast on Friday, Pezeshkian has become Iran’s next president,” the ministry said on Saturday. Pezeshkian secured 53.7 percent of the votes, or 16.3m, according to the official count. Jalili received 44.3 percent, or 13.5m. In his first public comments after the results were declared, Pezeshkian expressed gratitude to those who voted “with love and to help” the country. “We will extend…
SUDAN army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has said “many countries remain silent and turn a blind eye” to crimes allegedly committed by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the country’s more-than-year-long civil war. Sudan has been gripped by war since April 2023, when fighting erupted between forces loyal to al-Burhan and the RSF led by his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. Since the war broke out, tens of thousands of people have been killed and millions more have been displaced as a humanitarian crisis has deepened. Both sides have been accused of possibly committing war crimes by UN…
A TANZANIAN portrait artist, who was accused of burning a photo of President Samia Suluhu Hassan, has been sentenced to two years in prison or a fine of $2,000 (£1,600) after being found guilty of cybercrimes. Shadrack Chaula was arrested for allegedly recording a viral video, showing him burning a picture of President Samia while verbally insulting her. The 24-year-old painter admitted committing the crime and failed to defend his action in court. His arrest sparked legal controversy, with some lawyers saying that no law was broken in burning the picture. Some social media users have started an online drive…
TURKISH President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be in Germany for his country’s Euro 2024 quarter-final on Saturday, the presidency told AFP, as Ankara and Berlin trade barbs over a Turkish footballer’s celebratory gesture. Germany summoned Turkey’s ambassador in Berlin on Thursday morning amid a spiralling diplomatic row which erupted after Turkish footballer Merih Demiral made an alleged ultra-nationalist hand sign during his team’s win over Austria. In a tweet announcing the move the German foreign ministry said that “as the host of Euro 2024 we want sport to bring people together”. A day earlier Turkey had summoned the German envoy…
THE head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency will travel to Doha at the head of a negotiating delegation amid a renewed push to end the bloodshed in Gaza as both Israel and Hamas speak to mediators about a long-stalled ceasefire plan. Sources told Al Jazeera that Israeli intelligence chief David Barnea will lead the delegation and will meet with Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani before the start of a new round of negotiations. News of Israeli negotiators returning to talks in Qatar follow after Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US President Joe Biden in a…
KEIR Starmer and his renewed Labour Party won a landslide election in Britain on Thursday, according to the exit poll, ending 14 years of Conservative Party rule and moving toward a new government dominated by the center left. This was an election that was more about mood than policy, and voters conveyed their frustration with the incumbent Tories and a willingness to take a chance on a “changed Labour Party,” as Starmer calls it, purged of its hard-left elements and socialist rhetoric. The sophisticated exit poll, sponsored by Britain’s top broadcasters, found that Labour was on track to win 410…
PRESIDENT of the Economic Community of West African State, Omar Touray, has regretted that despite numerous deliberations, ECOWAS has been unable to persuade Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger to reverse their decision to withdraw from the regional bloc. Touray said this during the opening ceremony of the 92nd Ordinary Session of the Council of Ministers on Thursday in Abuja. He noted that despite the efforts of ECOWAS to engage these countries, their response has not been positive. After the military juntas in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger announced their decision to withdraw from ECOWAS since January 2024, the regional bloc…
TWENTY-FIVE soldiers with the Democratic Republic of Congo’s army have been sentenced to death for fleeing battles against the notorious M23 rebels in the conflict-hit east of the country. The soldiers were also convicted of theft by a military tribunal as they stole goods from shops in a nearby village after abandoning their positions, an army spokesman said. Four of the soldiers’ wives were acquitted by the military court of receiving goods looted by their husbands. In March, the government lifted a moratorium, in place for more than 20 years, on the death penalty being carried out after the justice…
HEZBOLLAH says a top commander has been killed in an Israeli attack in southern Lebanon, at least the third high-ranking official in the group to be killed in almost nine months of cross-border fighting that has sparked fears of wider regional escalation. The Lebanese armed group on Wednesday said that Muhammad Nimah Nasser, also known as “Hajj Abu Naameh”, had been killed. The Iran-aligned group later said it had launched 100 katyusha rockets targeting Israeli military positions. The announcement of Nasser’s death on the group’s Telegram did not provide the location, but a source previously told Al Jazeera that a…
JOE Biden is “absolutely not” pulling out of the White House race, his spokeswoman said Wednesday, as pressure mounted on the president following his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump. Panic has gripped Democrats in the wake of last week’s TV debate, and internal rumblings about finding a replacement candidate before November’s election have been amplified by polls showing Trump extending his lead. The New York Times and CNN reported that Biden, 81, had acknowledged to a key ally that his reelection bid was on the line if he failed to quickly reassure the public that he was still up…
AN attack blamed on Insurgents in central Mali killed more than 20 civilians on Monday, two local officials said, in the latest killings in the troubled Sahel region. Mali has for over a decade been ravaged by Insurgents and other armed groups, with the centre of the West African country becoming a hotbed of violence since 2015. “At least 21 civilians have been killed” in the village of Djiguibombo, several dozen kilometres (miles) from the town of Bandiagara, an official from the provincial authority said on Wednesday. He attributed the attack to Insurgents. Another provincial authority official and a local…
PROPOSED pay rises for members of Kenya’s cabinet and parliament will not happen after President William Ruto ordered a review of the plans following public outcry. It comes a week after mass protests forced Mr Ruto to drop a controversial finance bill that had included tax hikes. Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) Chairperson Lyn Mengich said on Wednesday the commission would “freeze” the salary increases for state officers due to “the current realities of the economy”. Initially the SRC had recommended a pay increase of 2% and 5% for all state officials, including judges. People began questioning how the the…