UNITED States President Donald Trump has threatened to deploy federal immigration agents to the country’s airports to “do Security like no one has ever seen”. “I look forward to moving ICE in on Monday, and have already told them to, ‘GET READY,’” Trump wrote in a series of posts on Saturday. “NO MORE WAITING, NO MORE GAMES!” Trump’s warnings on Saturday arrived on the five-week mark of a partial government shutdown that affects the Department of Homeland Security. Congress missed a February 14 deadline to fund the sprawling department, which includes agencies dedicated to border security, anti-terrorism operations, immigration services…
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THE Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has begun discussions with Energy China International (CEEC) to deepen cooperation on the development of regional energy infrastructure aimed at expanding electricity access and strengthening power systems across West Africa. The engagement took place during a meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, where officials from the ECOWAS Energy and Mines Directorate met with CEEC representatives to advance dialogue on priority regional energy projects. The session also included participants from the West African Power Pool (WAPP), the regional body responsible for coordinating electricity generation and transmission among West African countries. During the meeting, participants reviewed…
GERMANY has temporarily withdrawn its diplomatic staff from Niger Republic over concerns about the security situation in the country. Berlin cited fears that Western nationals are prime targets for kidnappings carried out by terrorist groups and criminal gangs. The United States ordered its own embassy staff to leave the country in late January. Monitoring groups say Insurgent groups have deepened their presence in the border areas between Niger, Benin and Nigeria over the last year. Violent attacks are up by 80 percent and the number of deaths have tripled. Niger has been plagued by jihadist violence for more than a…
MANCHESTER City coach, Pep Guardiola, has expressed surprise over the Confederation of African awarding the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations title to Morocco suggesting the decision was made without transparency. Fabrizio Romano’s X post on Friday quoted Guardiola as saying, “Pep Guardiola on AFCON verdict: “It’s a surprise! I don’t know the reason… but it’s a decision made behind-the-scenes. “What happens everywhere is what we see, it’s not happened, it always happens behind the scenes and you don’t see their faces.” This newspaper reports that the Confederation of African Football has awarded the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations title to…
DRONES have struck Kuwait’s largest oil refinery for the second day as Iran launched a sweeping assault on energy infrastructure across the Gulf, while explosions boomed over Tehran from Israeli attacks as the country marked the Persian New Year. Fires broke out across multiple units at the Mina al-Ahmadi refinery, which processes about 730,000 barrels of oil per day, early on Friday morning, as Kuwaitis marked Eid al-Fitr, the celebration ending the holy month of Ramadan. Kuwait’s national oil company said several units had been shut down, though there were no casualties. The country’s military said its air defences were…
NORWAY’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit said she was “manipulated” by convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in an interview broadcast Friday in which she sought to explain their close relationship. A commoner who married Crown Prince Haakon in 2001, Mette-Marit’s name appears multiple times in Epstein documents released by the US Department of Justice earlier this year. The files revealed an unexpectedly close friendship between the pair and raised questions in Norway about whether Mette-Marit can become queen, with recent polls showing that a majority of Norwegians oppose the idea. “Of course I wish I had never met him,” she told…
SEVERAL African countries, including South Africa, Ghana and Kenya, are turning to Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery as fuel supplies from the Middle East tighten following disruptions linked to the ongoing Israel-US-Iran war and threats to the Strait of Hormuz. According to Bloomberg, the supply crunch has left many African nations scrambling for alternatives, having long depended on large refineries in the Persian Gulf for refined petroleum products. At the centre of the shift is Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, whose 650,000-barrel-per-day refinery on the outskirts of Lagos is now emerging as a critical lifeline for the continent. The $20 billion facility,…
IN the Johannesburg suburb of Greenside, a large group of protesters of all ages and backgrounds are waving placards and banging empty plastic bottles together. “We want water, we want water!” they chant. Northern Johannesburg is known for its plush leafy suburbs. But after years of intermittent water shortages in South Africa, residents say they are fed up. Some have had no running water for over a month. “Our pipes have been bone-dry with no water coming through at all,” says Colin Regesky. “It’s not very healthy because everyone can get sick with no running water. And also according to…
PRESIDENT Donald Trump slammed NATO allies over their lack of support for the US-Israel war on Iran as the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed, with no end to the conflict in sight. NATO countries are “COWARDS, and we will REMEMBER!” he posted on his Truth Social platform on Friday. The US president complained NATO countries did not want to join the fight against Iran, yet still complain about high oil prices. “Now that fight is militarily WON, with very little danger for them, they complain about the high oil prices they are forced to pay, but don’t want to…
THE President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Patrice Motsepe, has affirmed that Senegal retains the right to challenge the controversial decision that stripped it of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) title, stressing that no country will receive preferential treatment. Motsepe stated this in a video interview published by CAF on Wednesday, addressing the fallout from the disputed AFCON 2025 final between the Senegal national football team and the Morocco national football team. “And I’m told that Senegal is going to appeal, which is very important. Every one of the 54 nations in Africa has a right…
AN F-35 fighter jet from the United States has made an emergency landing at an airbase in the Middle East after carrying out a combat mission over Iran, according to US military officials. The aircraft landed safely on Thursday, and the pilot is in stable condition, said Captain Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for the US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM). “We are aware of reports that a US F-35 aircraft conducted an emergency landing at a regional US airbase after flying a combat mission over Iran. The aircraft landed safely, and the pilot is in stable condition. This incident is under…
UN chief Antonio Guterres called on the United States and Israel on Thursday to end their war with Iran before it spirals “out of control,” warning of “potential tragic consequences” for civilians as well as the global economy. “To the United States and to Israel: it’s high time to end this war that is risking get completely out of control,” Guterres told reporters at an EU summit in Brussels. “To Iran, stop attacking your neighbours. They were never parties to the conflict,” he said. A direct war between the United States, Israel, and Iran is currently ongoing and has escalated…
THE Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda have agreed to take “concrete steps” to ease tensions amid a stalled peace process, after talks hosted by the US in Washington. Conflict in eastern DR Congo has continued despite the two countries signing a peace deal with US President Donald Trump last year. The pledge to ease tensions comes after the US earlier this month sanctioned the Rwandan Defence Forces and four senior officials and accused Rwanda of directly supporting the M23 rebel group, blaming it for escalating the conflict. A joint statement by DR Congo, Rwanda and the US says they…
CHAD’s president has ordered the military to retaliate against future attacks from Sudan following a drone attack that killed at least 17 people and injured several other people attending a funeral. Wearing military uniform, President Idris Mahamat Déby convened an emergency security meeting on Wednesday evening, where he ordered the military to be on high alert. He also ordered a “total closure” of the border with Sudan. He described the attack targeting the border town of Tiné as “outrageous and a blatant aggression” against Chad’s territorial integrity. He said that it had happened despite warnings to the two sides battling…
QUESTION: Salaamu Alaikum Ya Sheikh. What should a Muslim do on the day of Eid? Maryam Sadiq Abdullateef (Ummul-Banina), Kano State – ANSWER: Amin Alaikum Salaam Wa Rahamatullah. The days of the two Eids are days of joy and happiness, and these days are singled out for some acts of worship, special practices, and traditions, including the following: 1. Doing ghusl: This is narrated in saheeh reports from some of the Sahaabah. A man asked ‘Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) about bathing and he said: Bathe every day if you wish. He said: No, (I mean) bathing in…
SENEGAL football fans Wednesday slammed the decision to strip the country of its Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) title and give it to Morocco, calling the move a “disgrace for Africa” as their country demands an investigation. Gora Ndiaye, a resident of Dakar who works as a driver, told AFP he felt like he had “been hit over the head” when he heard the news on the radio. The Confederation of African Football (CAF) sensationally stripped Senegal of their title late Tuesday, citing regulations about leaving the field, which players did near the end of the final two months ago.…
IRANIAN President Masoud Pezeshkian has confirmed that Israel killed Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib in an overnight attack, marking the third assassination of a high-ranking Iranian official in two days. The announcement on Wednesday comes hours after Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz claimed the Iranian minister had been killed. Iranian security chief Ali Larijani and Gholamreza Soleimani, head of the Basij paramilitary force, were also killed in Israeli air strikes on Tuesday. Pezeshkian condemned the “cowardly assassination of my dear colleagues”, saying they “left us heartbroken.” In a post on X, he added that their “path will continue stronger than before.”…
SAUDI Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud has warned Iran that tolerance of its attacks on his country and those of neighbouring Gulf states is limited, calling on Tehran to immediately “recalculate” its strategy. Warning that Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states have “very significant capacities and capabilities” that could be drawn on should they “choose to do so”, the foreign minister told a news conference early on Thursday that Iran had carefully planned its strategy for striking regional neighbours, despite denials from Tehran’s diplomats. “The level of accuracy in some of this targeting – you can…
KENYA’s foreign minister says Russia has agreed to stop deploying Kenyan nationals to fight in the war in Ukraine, after talks in Moscow. Sitting beside his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, Musalia Mudavadi said both sides had agreed that Kenyans would no longer be recruited through Russia’s defence ministry. “They will no longer be eligible to be enlisted,” he said. Lavrov did not comment on the deal and insisted that all foreign fighters had joined voluntarily ”in full compliance with Russian law”. A Kenyan intelligence report in February warned that more than 1,000 citizens had been recruited to fight for Russia…
A SENIOR Zambian government official has said that some political parties were asking prospective female candidates for sexual favours in exchange for selection ahead of August’s general election. “I am going to appeal to all female aspiring candidates to ensure that they record all these cases,” Mainga Kabika, the civil service head of the gender division in the president’s office, said on Monday. She did not name the political parties involved. Zambia has a big gender imbalance in national politics with around 15% of MPs being women. Their under-representation at leadership level reflects “deep-rooted cultural and structural barriers”, a statement…