Author: Editor

FORTY-FIVE people have died in South Africa after the bus they were in plunged some 50m (165ft) off a bridge into a ravine, authorities say. An eight-year-old girl, the only survivor, was taken to hospital with serious injuries. The bus crashed through a barrier and caught fire when it hit the ground in the north-eastern Limpopo province. The passengers were pilgrims travelling from Botswana’s capital Gaborone to an Easter service in the town of Moria. The vehicle lost control and went off a bridge on the Mmamatlakala mountain pass between Mokopane and Marken, around 300km (190 miles) north of Johannesburg,…

THE senator representing Bauchi Central in the Senate, Ahmed Ningi, has written the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, demanding that the suspension placed on him be lifted. Ningi, who wrote Akpabio through his lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), noted that if his suspension was not lifted in the next seven days he would drag the Senate before the Federal High Court. The Senate, on March 12, sent Ningi on three months suspension over his claim that the 2024 budget was padded to the tune of N3.7tn. Ningi, in a media interview, claimed that while the budget passed by the National Assembly for…

Q – As Fasting draws to an end, what is your message for us all? Mustapha Noor, Abuja A – Many people misunderstand the true nature of fasting, and they make it an occasion for eating and drinking, making special sweets and staying up late at night and watching shows on satellite TV. They make such preparations long before Ramadaan, lest they miss out on some food bargains before food prices go up. They prepare by buying food, preparing drinks and looking at the satellite TV guide so they can choose which shows to follow and which to ignore. They…

FORMER world heptathlon champion Eunice Barber suffered minor injuries after being punched in the face by a passenger on a Paris suburban train, a police source said Tuesday. Barber, 49, was attacked after asking “a drunken passenger” to speak less loudly on his phone during the journey from Franconville, 17km north-west of Paris, into the city. The Sierra Leonean-born French athlete received “two blows to the face”, resulting in a slight injury to the “right cheekbone”, the police source said. A 43-year-old man was arrested when the train reached its destination at the Gare du Nord station in central Paris.…

THE southern Gaza Strip came under intense Israeli bombardment overnight, despite international pressure for an immediate ceasefire in the Palestinian territory where famine is looming. Besieged Gaza is in desperate need of aid and the United States said it would continue airdrops, despite pleas from Hamas to stop the practice after the Islamist group said 18 people had died trying to reach food packages. A fireball lit up the night sky in the southern city of Rafah, the last remaining urban centre in Gaza not to have been attacked by Israeli ground forces. About 1.5 million people are crammed in…

FIVE Chinese nationals working on a major dam construction site were killed along with their driver on Tuesday when a suicide bomber targeted their vehicle in northwest Pakistan, officials said. Their vehicle plunged into a deep ravine off the mountainous Karakoram Highway after the bomber rammed his car into them and detonated his explosives, police said. Beijing has poured billions of dollars into Pakistan in recent years, but Chinese-funded projects have sparked resentment and their citizens have frequently come under attack. Images shared with AFP show smoke rising from the valley, near Besham city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. “Five Chinese…

THE son of a former president of Guinea-Bissau was sentenced to more than six and a half years in prison for involvement in a transnational heroin trafficking conspiracy, the US Justice Department announced Tuesday. Malam Bacai Sanha Jr, 52, planned to use the proceeds to finance a coup in the West African country that would lead to his eventual presidency and establishment of a “drugs regime,” according to the statement released by the US Attorney for the Southern District of Texas. “Malam Bacai Sanha Jr. wasn’t any ordinary international drug trafficker,” said Douglas Williams, special agent in charge of the…

FOUR people were sentenced to death and two given life imprisonment over the assassination of Tunisian opposition leader Chokri Belaid in 2013, the deputy public prosecutor of the anti-terrorist judicial division said Wednesday. A total of 23 people had been charged in connection with the murder of leftist Belaid. Sentences ranging from two to 120 years were handed down to other defendants, while five were acquitted. Belaid, a fierce critic of the then-ruling Islamist party Ennahdha, was killed on February 6, 2013, in his car outside his home. Tunisia still hands down death sentences, often in terrorism cases, despite a…

FOLLOWING the conclusion of collation of votes, Mr Diomaye Faye has officially been declared winner of the presidential election in Senegal, winning 54.28% of votes in the first round, the 44-YEAR-OLD Senegalese politician is elected the youngest leader on the African continent. This newspaper had earlier reported how Faye, who was in prison 10 days before the election, was leading in the race. The vote followed months of political turmoil in one of Africa’s most stable democracies, after outgoing President Macky Sall tried to postpone the election until December. Several of the other 15 candidates had already conceded. President Sall…

THE Kano State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, has approved a subsidy of N500,000 for each of the intending pilgrims from the state. The subsidy followed a directive by the National Hajj Commission (NAHCON), asking the intending pilgrims to pay additional N1.9 million for the 2024 Hajj fare. The Director General, Kano State Pilgrims Welfare Board, Alhaji Lamin Dan Baffa, disclosed this during a media briefing on Wednesday in Kano. According to him, the state government will pay the total sum of N1.4bn for the 2,096 registered pilgrims. He said Kano State Government took the decision in view of the recent…

MONTHS after receiving the names of some ambassadorial nominees, President Bola Tinubu has yet to draw up a consolidated list of diplomats who will serve as Nigeria’s envoys to various countries and multilateral organisations. This is as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it has since collated and forwarded the names of prospective diplomats to the President for consideration. “We have collated everything on our part and forwarded it to Mr. President,” the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, confirmed to our correspondent before Monday’s Federal Executive Council meeting. However, the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo…

Q: Salaamu Alaikum Sheikh. Is it true that giving charity purifies the soul? Ahmad Ali Maina, Borno A: One cannot attain piety unless he regularly spends his wealth in good causes according to his capacity. Qur’an reminds about charity and alms giving in so many places that it won’t be an exaggeration to say that it is one of the basic elements of belief. In surah Aal Imran, Allah says, “By no means shall you attain righteousness unless you give (freely) of that which you love. And whatever you spend; indeed, Allah is Knowing of it.” (Qur’an, 3:92). Similarly in…

THE Euro 2024 lineup is now complete as Poland, Ukraine, and Georgia triumphed in intense play-off battles on Tuesday night. The stage is now set for an electrifying UEFA Euro 2024 tournament, which kicks off in Munich, Germany, on June 14th and concludes with the final in Berlin on July 14th, 2024. Poland emerged victorious over Wales in a penalty shootout after a goalless draw in regulation time and extra time. The match reached its climax when Wales’ C. Mepham received a red card in the 120th minute, and Polish striker K. Piatek secured the winning penalty, sealing Poland’s place…

MEDIATOR Qatar said Tuesday that talks between Hamas and Israel on a Gaza truce and hostage release are continuing, despite the warring parties trading blame over the lack of headway. Foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said the talks were “ongoing”, adding there had not been “any development that would lead to thinking that one of the teams has pulled out of the negotiations”. Qatar, with the United States and Egypt, has been engaged in weeks of behind-the-scenes talks in a bid to secure a truce in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners being held…

THE US Treasury Department sanctioned 11 people and companies on Tuesday it said were involved in illicit financial transfers and drug smuggling in support of the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Many of those sanctioned were involved in the trade of the highly addictive amphetamine captagon, which is illegally trafficked throughout the Middle East and Europe, the Treasury Department said in a statement. Syria has become the world’s leading producer of the powerful drug, and its trade has helped bolster the Assad’s government’s coffers during the country’s long-running civil war. “The revenue from the illicit Captagon trade has become…

THE Ugandan government has instructed all civil servants to spend two hours a week doing physical exercise to keep them fit and healthy. The directive was shared in a letter to government agencies from the head of public service, Lucy Nakyobe, who said the sessions would “help save the lives of staff and reduce the disease burden”. The Government of Uganda also tweeted that the initiative will “tame the rising burden of lifestyle disease” in the country. It comes two years after a national health survey showed obesity rates in the country had risen from 17% to 26% in the…

ONE of Africa’s largest airlines, Kenya Airways, made an operating profit in 2023 – the first time since 2017. Chairman Michael Joseph called the $80m (£63m) excess a “significant milestone”, the AFP news agency quotes him as saying. Part of the reason for the success was a more than 50% jump in revenue thanks to an increase in passenger numbers. Kenya Airways, which is partly owned by the government, has had troubled recent past with huge debts and it was hit hard by the fallout from the Covid pandemic. “These figures highlight the airline’s remarkable performance over the year and…

STRONG reactions have trailed bandits seen in viral videos displaying cash supposedly collected from victims. Videos of the ransoms were uploaded on Tik-Tok. The monies were seen in a series of post on X by a counter-insurgency expert and security analyst, Zagazola Makama Makama said the user of the social network account has over 3000 followers. He noted that some of them are bandits who openly show off their rifles and are dressed in military or police uniforms. “Audacity: Bandit on Tik-Tok flaunting and showing off ransom money he collected from his victims.” “The user of the account has 3000…

Q: Salaamu Alaikum Sheikh, what are virtues of Umrah performed in Ramadan? Abu Qunaisa Saleh, Minna A: Ibn ‘Abbaas  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  him narrated, “When the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allah exalt his mention )returned after performing Hajj (major pilgrimage), he asked Umm Sinaan Al-Ansaariyyah,‘Why did you not perform Hajj?’ She replied, ‘The father of so-and-so [i.e., her husband] had two camels and he went on pilgrimage on one of them, and the second is used for the irrigation of our land.’ The Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allah exalt his mention )said…

BRAZIL winger Vinicius Junior said his desire to play football was reducing as incidents of racial abuse aimed at him piled up in Spain, during a tearful media appearance Monday. The Real Madrid forward has suffered abuse from opposition fans on many occasions in recent years, with one incident in Valencia in May provoking worldwide outrage. Spain will face Vinicius’ Brazil at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday under the slogan “One Skin” to help combat racism. “I’ve been seeing this (racism) for a long time, and every time I feel sadder, and every time I have less desire to play,”…