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ISRAEL’s military intelligence chief has resigned after taking responsibility for failures leading to the Hamas attack on October 7, the military said on Monday, as Israel carried out more shelling in war-battered Gaza overnight. General Aharon Haliva is the first top Israeli official to step down for failing to prevent the Hamas attack, which triggered the war in Gaza and brought the government and military under intense scrutiny in Israel. “The intelligence division under my command did not live up to the task we were entrusted with,” Haliva said in his resignation letter. “I carry that black day with me…

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday promised that deportation flights of asylum seekers to Rwanda will begin in “10 to 12 weeks”, as the plan entered its final stage in parliament. “We are ready, plans are in place and these flights will go, come what may,” Sunak told a Downing Street news conference, hours before parliament is set to approve the contentious proposal. Sunak says it is essential to deter record numbers of asylum seekers crossing the Channel to England from France in small boats and has made it a key pillar of his Conservative party’s pitch to voters.…

AN EGYPTIAN statue aged more than 3,000 years old has arrived back home, over three decades since it was stolen and smuggled out of the country, authorities have said. The statue depicts a head of the ancient Egyptian King Ramses II, who was one of Egypt’s most powerful rulers. It is “part of a mass statue depicting King Ramses II seated next to a number of Egyptian gods”, the ministry of tourism and antiquities said on Sunday. The artefact, which dates back to more than 3,400 years, was taken from the Ramses II temple in the ancient city of Abydos.…

THERE are reports from Mali that at least 100 civilians are being held by suspected insurgents after being kidnapped last week. Local residents told the AFP news agency that they were travelling in three buses when the attackers forced them to drive in the direction of a forest between Bandiagara and Bankass. Six days on, there has been no sign of the dozens of hostages. This area of Mali’s Mopti region has seen frequent attacks by insurgents. Following several recent attacks in the area, people are getting increasingly frustrated. Civil society organisations in Bandiagara have been staging protests denouncing the…

JUDE Bellingham scored a late winner as Real Madrid beat Barcelona to move 11 points clear at the top of La Liga after an enthralling El Clasico. Bellingham smashed into the roof of the net as the clock ticked into stoppage time as Real twice came from behind at the Bernabeu. Andres Christensen scored the opener for Barcelona but a Vinicius Jr penalty had the game level at half-time. Fermin Lopez made it 2-1 to Barca before Lucas Vazquez equalised again. The victory puts Real firmly on track to reclaim the title with just six games left to play this…

PRIME Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said Israel will increase “military pressure” on Palestinian militant group Hamas in a bid to secure the release of hostages held in Gaza. “In the coming days we will increase the military and political pressure on Hamas because this is the only way to free our hostages,” Netanyahu said in a video statement on the eve of the Jewish holiday of Passover, threatening to “deliver additional and painful blows” without specifying. Despite an international outcry, Netanyahu has repeatedly said that the army will launch a ground assault on Rafah, a southern Gaza city so…

NO one can know the mind of Sydney shopping mall killer Joel Cauchi, but psychiatrists say one underlying cause of his rampage is evident: he had schizophrenia, stopped his medication and fell out of treatment. People have searched for a fathomable motive since the April 13 knife attack at Bondi Junction, in which five women and a male security guard were stabbed to death and another dozen wounded, including a nine-month-old girl. Cauchi’s parents have said their son was diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of 17 and was successfully treated for about 18 years. A serious mental disorder, schizophrenia…

THE United Nations Support Mission in Libya called Sunday for an investigation into a political activist’s death while detained at an eastern military base controlled by military strongman Khalifa Haftar. UNSMIL also demanded the “immediate release” of other prisoners it said were being detained “arbitrarily” by the war-torn country’s eastern-based authorities. In a statement on X, the UN mission said it was “deeply saddened by the death of activist Siraj Dughman while in custody at Rajma military camp” and urged the Libyan “authorities to conduct a transparent and independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death”. Plagued by political instability…

HUNDREDS protested on Sunday against the US troop presence in military-ruled Niger where a delegation from Washington is expected within days to arrange an orderly withdrawal. The United States had on Friday agreed to withdraw its more than 1,000 soldiers from the African nation where Washington built a $100 million base to fly a fleet of drones. The demonstration in the northern desert town of Agadez, home to a US air base, was called by a group of 24 civil society associations that have backed the regime since last year’s coup. “This is Agadez, not Washington, US army go home,”…

FORMER Super Eagles stars have expressed different opinion over hiring a foreigner as coach of the senior national team. Following Jose Peseiro’s departure after guiding the Eagles to the Africa Cup of Nations final in Ivory Coast in February, discussions have intensified over the Portuguese ideal successor with over 60 candidates reportedly applying for the job. With the Nigeria Football Federation on the verge of announcing Peseiro’s replacement, foreigner contenders Danny Buijs, Domenec Torrent and Antonio Conceicao and homeboy Emmanuel Amuneke are reportedly front runners for the position. Former Eagles defender, Abbey George, argued that local coaches might struggle to…

MARK Robins scored the goal that helped launch Manchester United’s era of dominance. Now he is plotting to deepen their misery in the FA Cup semi-final on Sunday as Coventry boss. The 54-year-old scored against Nottingham Forest in the third round of the competition in 1990, a goal that turned out to be a turning point in the history of United and was widely credited with saving Alex Ferguson’s job. Robins also scored the winner in the semi-final against Oldham and United went on to lift the cup, the first of a cascade of trophies under Ferguson, who oversaw their…

AN Israeli air strike on a house in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah killed at least 10 people, including six children, hospital authorities said, as Israel pursues its nearly seven-month offensive in the besieged Palestinian territory. Funerals were held on Saturday for those killed in the deadly strike on Rafah’s western Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood the night before, according to Gaza’s civil defence. At al-Najjar Hospital, the site of the area’s main morgue, relatives sobbed and hugged white-shrouded children’s bodies. “Hamza my beloved. Your hair looks so pretty,” a mourning grandmother said. The fatalities included Abdel-Fattah Sobhi Radwan, his wife Najlaa…

TENS of thousands of demonstrators have hit the streets of Spain’s Canary Islands to demand changes to the model of mass tourism they say is overwhelming the Atlantic archipelago. An estimated 57,000 people joined the protests, which began at midday (11:00 GMT) on Saturday, Spanish media reports said, citing the central government’s representative in the islands. Flag-waving crowds packed the streets of the main towns across all of the archipelago’s seven islands, chanting and whistling, and holding placards with slogans like: “The Canary Islands are not up for sale!”; “A moratorium on tourism”; and “Respect my home”. “It’s not a…

AT least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s capital Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko river on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief…

TOGO’s parliament has given final approval to a new constitution extending the president’s term, after critics denounced the move as a coup. The West African country will move from a presidential to a parliamentary system. President Faure Gnassingbé’s supporters argue the changes reduce his powers by transforming the presidency into a ceremonial role. But the opposition said the reforms remove limits on his stay in office. Their removal would enable him to remain president until 2031, they said, after which he could be appointed to the new position of “president of the council of ministers” – in effect prime minister…

ON Wednesday, April 17th 2024, the country’s  media space was awashed by news that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) stormed the Abuja residence of former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello to effect an arrest despite a a subsisting Order of injunction granted on 9th February 2024 by the High Court of Justice, Lokoja Division in Suit No. HCL/68M/2024 between Alhaji Yahaya Bello v. Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, restraining the Commission either by itself or its agents from harassing, arresting, detaining or prosecuting Bello, pending the hearing and determination of the substantive fundamental rights enforcement action. Moments after…

IRAN’s air defences have brought down three small drones over the central city of Isfahan, state media reported, hours after United States broadcasters, quoting senior US officials, said Israeli missiles had hit an Iranian site. Iranian state television reported explosions in Isfahan as air defences were activated and flights across several areas, including the capital, Tehran, and Isfahan, were suspended. Airspace was reopened about four and a half hours after the incident and there were no reports of casualties. Second Brigadier General Siavash Mihandoust, the top military official in Isfahan, told state media that air defence batteries hit “a suspicious…

A MAN has set himself on fire outside the court in Manhattan where former President Donald Trump’s hush-money trial is being held. The man doused himself in a liquid before throwing conspiracy-theory pamphlets into the air, police said. His motive is unknown and police responded to the scene. Mr Trump was in the building to attend jury selection, where he has had a security detail, but the former president left during the incident. Emergency officials said that court security had not been breached in the incident. The case, which had just completed alternate jury selection, resumed later in the afternoon.…

KENYA’s government has sent a team to investigate the helicopter crash that killed military chief Gen Francis Ogolla and nine others. It was not immediately clear what caused the crash. Gen Ogolla was among 12 occupants of the military aircraft that went down on Thursday afternoon shortly after take off in the north-west of the country. The bodies of those who died were flown to Nairobi and the two survivors are being treated in hospital. The four-star general will be buried on Sunday at his home in western Siaya county, his family has said. Announcing three days of national mourning,…

A TRAIN that Ghana recently acquired from Poland has collided with a lorry during a test run in the Eastern Region, the authorities say. It rammed into the abandoned vehicle that was on the tracks of the Tema-Mpakadan railway line on Thursday, causing minor damage to the train’s cabin area, the railway ministry said. The train driver, railway inspectors and passengers all escaped unhurt. Police say they have arrested the driver of the abandoned lorry. There was no-one in the lorry when it was hit and the location where the it was left was not designated as an authorised level…