Author: Editor

A TOP Ethiopian opposition figure has been shot dead and his body found on the side of a road in his hometown in Meki, in the troubled Oromia region. Bate Urgessa, 41, was an outspoken critic of the government and had been jailed on several occasions. Family members told local news site, Addis Standard, people who “looked like government security forces” took him from his hotel room on Tuesday night. The Oromia regional government denied that security forces were involved. In recent years Ethiopia has seen an increase in the killing of political and cultural figures. Mr Bate was a…

FIFTY more staff of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) were sacked on Monday, adding to the long list of ongoing disengagements in the apex bank, this newspaper gathered. The sacking under the leadership of CBN governor, Mr Olayemi Cardoso cuts across 29 departments, it was learnt. So far, 117 casualties have been recorded in the last 20 days. The termination of appointments affects directors, deputy directors, assistant directors, principal managers, senior managers and lower ranking staff. The dispatch of the disengagement letters, which started on March 15, has continued every other week with palpable apprehension amongst staff of every…

ANDREAS Christensen headed the winner as Barcelona beat Paris Saint-Germain 3-2 at the Parc des Princes in Wednesday’s first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie. Raphinha equalised for Barca with his second goal of the night before Christensen nodded in from a corner in the 77th minute. In between, PSG had turned the game around as they awoke from a poor first-half display by starting in electrifying fashion after the restart with two goals in six minutes, neither coming from Kylian Mbappe. Ousmane Dembele struck against his old club, and Vitinha briefly put the French giants in front, only…

GAZANS did their best to celebrate the end of Ramadan in the driving rain on Wednesday, as the war raged on with 14 killed, including children, in a strike on their home, the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry said. The Israeli military said it struck several targets on the first day of the Eid al-Adha holiday, with a jet hitting a rocket launch site and troops killing a “terrorist cell” in close quarters fighting. An AFP photographer witnessed the aftermath of the the bombing of the home in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. Family members clutched the bodies of dead…

IT is the most spectacular trial ever held in Vietnam, befitting one of the greatest bank frauds the world has ever seen. Behind the stately yellow portico of the colonial-era courthouse in Ho Chi Minh City, a 67-year-old property developer stands accused of looting one of Vietnam’s largest banks over a period of 11 years. The numbers involved are dizzying. Truong My Lan is charged with taking out $44bn (£35bn) in loans from the Saigon Commercial Bank. Prosecutors say $27bn may never be recovered. The habitually secretive communist authorities have been uncharacteristically forthright about this case, going into minute detail…

A “SOPHISTICATED internet fraud syndicate” has been uncovered in Zambia, leading to the arrest of 77 people, including 22 Chinese nationals. It was a “significant breakthrough in the fight against cybercrime”, the authorities said after a multi-agency raid on a Chinese-run company. The firm employed Zambians who believed they were to be call-centre agents. Among equipment seized were devices allowing callers to disguise their location and thousands of Sim cards. Golden Top Support Services, the company at the centre of the raid, has not commented on the allegations. The swoop on its premises, located in Roma, an upmarket suburb of…

THE editor of a Togolese newspaper detained over a report about the death of a supporter of President Faure Gnassingbe was released on Tuesday, his lawyer said. The arrest of Apollinaire Mewenemesse, 71, who is editor of La Depeche, heightened fears of a press clampdown ahead of elections. He was arrested on March 28 in connection with an article questioning a general’s conviction in the murder of an Gnassingbe ally. He faces seven charges, including “publication of fake news” with the aim of inciting the public or the military to rise up against the state. “Apollinaire Mewenemesse is released under…

NO fewer than 39 lecturers in the nation’s tertiary institutions have been indicted and dismissed over sexual misconduct in the past five years, analysis of media reports by this newspaper has revealed. Sexual harassment has been recurring in Nigerian higher educational institutions with a survey conducted in 2018 by the World Bank Group’s Women revealing that 70 per cent of female graduates from tertiary institutions in the country were sexually harassed in school, with the main perpetrators being classmates and lecturers. Although the Senate had in 2021 passed a bill stipulating 21 years imprisonment for randy lecturers, The PUNCH reports…

REAL Madrid and Champions League holders Manchester City shared a pulsating 3-3 draw in a rollercoaster quarter-final first leg on Tuesday. Bernardo Silva put City ahead with a low free-kick but Ruben Dias’ own goal and Rodrygo Goes helped Madrid dramatically and swiftly fight back. Manchester City’s own quick-fire double in the second half through Phil Foden and Josko Gvardiol stunned the record 14-time winners, but they snatched a draw through Fede Valverde’s scorching volley. The thrilling match was played in the shadow of a threat by Islamic State to target every quarter-final first leg, with a heavy security presence…

AT least 14 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, Palestinian medical sources and eyewitnesses said Tuesday. Eyewitnesses told Xinhua that Israeli warplanes targeted a house belonging to the Abu Yousef family in the camp, completely destroying the house and causing damage to nearby homes. Medical sources told Xinhua that 14 people, including children, were killed in the airstrike, and several others sustained varying degrees of injuries. All the injured were transported to hospitals. Earlier in the day, the Gaza health ministry announced that the Palestinian death toll in…

SIMON Harris became Ireland’s youngest ever prime minister Tuesday, pledging to bring “new energy” to the role but conceding that time is tight before looming crucial election tests. Harris, 37, replaces Leo Varadkar who abruptly quit last month citing personal and political reasons. Ireland’s parliament voted 88 to 69 in favour of Harris who was officially installed at a ceremony with President Michael D. Higgins. The centre-right Fine Gael party — part of a three-party governing coalition — selected Harris as its leader following an uncontested election after Varadkar resigned. But he faces key elections within months as well as…

A SOUTH African court on Tuesday ruled that former president Jacob Zuma can stand in looming general elections, overturning a decision by electoral authorities to bar him over a contempt conviction. In a surprise verdict, the electoral court ruled in favour of the 81-year-old who is fronting uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), a new opposition party that has become a potential upsetter in the May 29 election. “The decision of the Electoral Commission… is set aside,” the court wrote in a ruling seen by AFP. It did not provide an explanation of how the verdict was reached. South Africa’s general elections…

UK LEADER Rishi Sunak and Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame reiterated Tuesday that they expect Britain to soon start sending undocumented migrants to the African country, despite fresh questions over the controversial scheme. Prime Minister Sunak hosted Kagame at his official residence in London just as a British newspaper reported that properties in Kigali earmarked for the deported migrants had instead been sold to local buyers. A government spokesperson said Sunak updated President Kagame “on the next stages of the legislation in parliament”, which is at the centre of a standoff. “Both leaders looked forward to flights departing to Rwanda in…

THE impeachment of Phillip Shaibu in Edo State has made him the 17th deputy governor to be impeached since Nigeria’s return to civil rule in 1999, Daily Trust reports. Pundits say these developments call for stronger constitutional backing for deputy governors in the country to reserve the sanctity of their offices and democracy as a whole. Shaibu, who has been in a running battle with Governor Godwin Obaseki over his ambition to succeed him, was impeached by the Edo State House of Assembly over allegations of perjury and divulging Edo State government secrets. He has been replaced by 38-year-old Omobayo…

Salaamu Alaikum, Ya Sheikh. I embraced Islam recently without my parent’s knowledge. If they knew they would be very angry and would cut off my study allowance for university. Hence I tried to keep the matter secret. But on the third day of Ramadan, I had no choice but to go to a meeting at the University, and after I arrived I found out that they had prepared dinner that happened to be one and a half hours before Maghrib. The problem was not my refusing to eat with them; rather the problem was that my parents were also present…

MIKEL Arteta has challenged Arsenal to prove their wretched Champions League record against Bayern Munich is ancient history as the Gunners look to seize their “special” opportunity to reach the semi-finals. Arteta’s side have endured a series of chastening defeats against Bayern over the last decade, but Arteta expects them to reverse that trend in Tuesday’s quarter-final first leg. Beaten 5-1 in each of their last three meetings with Bayern, Arsenal were eliminated from the Champions League by the German club in the last 16 in 2017, 2014, 2013 and 2005. However, Premier League leaders Arsenal are in superb form,…

TALKS in Cairo towards a Gaza truce and hostage release deal have made “significant progress”, Egyptian state-linked media reported Monday, more than half a year into the war started by the October 7 attack. Israel kept up the pressure, warning that it was ready for future military operations against Hamas in Gaza’s far-southern city of Rafah, the last area so far spared a ground invasion. Israel on Sunday pulled its forces out of the southern Gaza Strip and the main city there, Khan Yunis, allowing large numbers of displaced Palestinians to return to the devastated urban area. But Defence Minister…

ACROSS Mexico, the US and Canada, inside a ribbon of land stretching 155 miles wide but more than 4,000 miles long, tens of millions of people craned their necks, tilted their heads to the sky and watched in wonder as the day turned to night. What many saw on Monday was a phenomenon like no other: the Moon moving between the Earth and the Sun, extinguishing its light in a total solar eclipse. The path of totality spanned the continent, beginning over the warm sands of a Mexican beach town and darkening the skies above the crashing waters of Niagara…

MORE than 100 people have died in Mali because of an extreme heatwave that hit the country last month, reports say. Last week the south-western town of Kayes recorded a temperature high of 48.5°C. It would be the hottest day in African history recorded in April, according to meteorologists cited by online news website RFI. Gabriel-Toure Hospital in the capital, Bamako, received 102 heat-affected patients who died upon arrival, French RFI news website reported. Most of them were over 60 years of age and chronically ill, Djibo Mahamane Django, the head of anaesthesia department at hospital told local Joliba FM.…

THE death toll from the sinking of a makeshift ferry boat off the north coast of Mozambique has risen to 96, local authorities said Monday. The converted fishing boat, carrying about 130 people, ran into trouble on Sunday as it was trying to reach an island off Nampula province, officials said. “Five more (bodies) have been found in the last few hours, therefore we are talking about 96 deaths,” Silverio Nauaito, the island’s administrator, told AFP. Among them were three children, he added. Rescuers have found 11 survivors and search operations are continuing, the official said. On Sunday, authorities said…