A NOTORIOUS Tanzanian drug-trafficking kingpin has been arrested in Zambia during a raid, the Zambian Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) has announced. Ahmed Muharram was among several suspects detained in Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, along with large quantities of marijuana and cough syrup containing codeine in several drug busts on Tuesday, the authorities said. “The suspect is a known transnational drug trafficker,” the DEC said, adding that the 40-year-old had long been on the anti-drug agency’s watch-list. The arrest of Muharram, who has not yet commented, was made possible thanks to a series of intelligence-led operations, the agency said. Under Zambian law,…
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FIFA chief Gianni Infantino defended his controversial decision to award a peace prize to United States president Donald Trump as he dismissed calls for a World Cup boycott. Infantino was widely criticised for giving Trump the honour on behalf of his governing body at the 2026 World Cup draw in Washington DC in December. The move drew further scrutiny after US forces seized Venezuelan president Miguel Maduro, while Trump caused more controversy with his desire to acquire Greenland for national security reasons. However, Infantino insisted Trump was deserving of FIFA’s inaugural peace prize, telling Sky News on Monday: “Objectively, he…
UNITED Nations chief Antonio Guterres again has called on Israel to immediately allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, as the Israeli authorities continue to block dozens of Palestinians from exiting the war-ravaged enclave to seek medical treatment. Guterres made the appeal on Tuesday, as more than 100 sick and injured Palestinians congregated at the newly reopened Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, hoping to access medical care abroad. “I also call for the facilitation of rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief at scale – including through the Rafah crossing,” Guterres said during an address at UN headquarters in…
THE United States military says it shot down an Iranian drone that approached a US aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea, amid continued efforts by regional powers to ease tensions between Washington and Tehran. In a statement on Tuesday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) spokesperson Tim Hawkins said a US fighter jet from the USS Abraham Lincoln “shot down the Iranian drone in self-defense and to protect the aircraft carrier and personnel on board”. The Shahed-139 drone was shot down by an F-35C from the Lincoln, which CENTCOM said was sailing about 800km (500 miles) from Iran’s southern coast. CENTCOM said…
SAIF al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of the longtime former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, has been killed in Libya. Ahmed Khalifa, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent in the North African country, said on Tuesday that Gaddafi is believed to have been shot and killed in the western Libyan city of Zintan, where he was based for the past decade. The 53-year-old’s killing was confirmed by his political adviser, Abdullah Othman, but the exact circumstances of his death remain unclear. Khaled al-Mishri, the former head of the Tripoli-based High State Council, an internationally recognised government body, called for an “urgent and transparent…
THE authorities in Puntland, a semi‑autonomous region of Somalia, have executed a woman convicted of murdering a 14‑year‑old girl, in a rare case in the region in which the death penalty has been carried out against a woman. Hodan Mohamud Diiriye, 34, was killed by firing squad on Tuesday in the city of Galkayo after a court found her guilty of beating to death a teenager who had been working as a domestic helper. Saabirin Saylaan’s killing in November sparked protests in Galkayo, along with renewed calls for greater child protection. The case touched a deep nerve in a country…
THOUSANDS of sick and wounded Palestinians are eagerly waiting to leave Gaza for urgent medical care abroad as Israel opens the Rafah border with Egypt for “limited” crossings. Only five patients managed to exit today. The border crossing after being closed by Israel for nearly two years will reportedly operate for six hours a day and allow the exit of only 150 people. A bus carrying the first 12 Palestinians who passed Israel’s intense screening process passed through the Rafah crossing into Gaza, far short of the 50 per day expected. Health authorities say 1,268 people have died in Gaza…
PAKSITANI security forces have killed at least 145 fighters in the restive Balochistan province in a manhunt launched after a series of coordinated gun and bomb attacks that left nearly 50 people dead. The announcement on Sunday came a day after the attacks, which began early on Saturday at multiple locations across southwestern Balochistan and left 31 civilians, including five women, and 17 security personnel dead. The assault, claimed by the banned separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), prompted authorities to impose months-long security restrictions on the province, banning public gatherings, demonstrations and limiting traffic movement. The measures also ban the…
AN internal clash within Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has reportedly left a senior commander dead in the Darfur region, according to local sources. Sources told reporters that Abdullah Abu al-Qasim, commander of the RSF’s Sha’iriya sector, was killed during fighting that erupted among RSF elements in the Khazan area late on Sunday. The clashes began at around 8:00 p.m. local time and were triggered by internal leadership disputes within the paramilitary group, the sources said. The fighting resulted in multiple casualties, though the total number of dead and wounded remains unclear. Abu al-Qasim, also known as “Dawli,” was a…
GHANA has paused citizenship applications for members of the African diaspora in order to make the system more accessible and user friendly. Since 2016, those who can prove their ancestors came from Africa have been able to get Ghanaian nationality. It was primarily aimed at the descendants of those who were victims of the transatlantic slave trade. More than 1,000 people – including African American singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder – have obtained Ghanaian citizenship in recent years. However, some applicants have complained about the number of stages involved, as well as the high cost. Dr Erieka Bennet, ambassador for the Diaspora…
BENJAMIN Sesko scored a stoppage-time winner as Manchester United made it three wins in a row under Michael Carrick in a Premier League thriller with Fulham at Old Trafford. In a match preceded by a protest attended by 500-600 fans, according to police sources, United seemed to be cruising to victory as Brazilian duo Casemiro and Matheus Cunha put them two up with goals either side of half-time. But after Raul Jimenez pulled one back five minutes from time with a brilliant penalty into the roof of the home net, Kevin looked to have snatched a point with a thunderous…
WITH what remains of her wounded forearms, Nebal al-Hessi scrolls on her phone to follow news updates on the reopening of the Rafah land crossing from her family’s tent in an-Nazla, Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip. Nebal’s hands were amputated in an Israeli artillery attack on the home where she had taken shelter with her husband and her daughter in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, on October 7, 2024. More than a year later, the 25-year-old mother is one of thousands of wounded people placing their hopes on the reopening of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and…
AT least 12 people have been killed in a Russian drone attack on a bus carrying miners in Ukraine’s southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, the country’s energy minister said. “Today, the enemy carried out a cynical and targeted attack on energy sector workers in the Dnipro region,” Minister of Energy Denys Shmyhal posted on Telegram on Sunday. “As a result of the terrorist attack, 12 mine workers were killed and seven more were injured.” Police said the attack took place in the city of Ternivka. Footage posted by the State Emergencies Service showed a charred bus with shattered windows that had veered…
FOUR British people have died within four months after being struck down with stomach bugs while on holiday in Cape Verde, lawyers representing their families have said. Mark Ashley, 55, of Bedfordshire; Elena Walsh, 64, from Birmingham; 64-year-old Karen Pooley, from Gloucestershire, and a 56-year-old man all died last year after contracting severe gastric illnesses while on the islands off the coast of west Africa. They are four of six Britons who have died after holidays there since January 2023, and law firm Irwin Mitchell said the six families were making personal injury claims against holiday firm Tui. Ashley’s wife…
BURKINA Faso’s junta has announced a ban on all political parties, whose activities have been suspended since the military seized power in 2022. Junta leader Captain Ibrahim Traoré has been criticised for suppressing dissent and the move will be seen as the latest move to tighten control. According to Burkina Faso’s Interior Minister Emile Zerbo, the ban is part of plans to “rebuild the state” after what he said were “numerous abuses” in the country’s multiparty system. Zerbo said the system had been “promoting division among citizens and weakening the social fabric”. Parties were previously banned from holding public gatherings…
NONI Madueke starred as Arsenal extended their lead at the top of the table to seven points as they beat Leeds United to record their first league win in four Premier League matches. Madueke was not meant to start the game and was a late replacement for winger Bukayo Saka, who limped out of the warm-up with a hip problem. And Madueke, who has had to play the role of back-up for most of this season, took his chance to impress as he curled in an excellent cross for Martin Zubimendi to nod Arsenal in front. The home side had…
MORE than 200 people have been killed in a collapse at the Rubaya coltan mine in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to a spokesperson for the rebel-appointed governor of the province where the mine is located. The mine, located some 60km (37 miles) northwest of Goma city, the provincial capital of North Kivu province, collapsed on Wednesday after a landslide, Lumumba Kambere Muyisa said on Friday. “More than 200 people were victims of this landslide, including miners, children and market women. Some people were rescued just in time and have serious injuries,” Muyisa told the news agency…
AT least 31 Palestinians, including six children and several police officers, have been killed in relentless Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, a day before the Rafah border crossing is due to reopen. An Israeli air strike on Saturday on a tent sheltering displaced people in the Mawasi area to the northwest of Khan Younis city killed at least seven Palestinians, including three children, medical sources told Al Jazeera. Their bodies were taken to the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis. In Gaza City, emergency services reported that at least five Palestinians, including three children, were killed in an Israeli…
IRANIAN President Masoud Pezeshkian has said that United States President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Europe stirred tensions by “provoking” people during the recent protests that gripped the country. “They equipped and brought a number of innocent people along with this movement and poured them into the streets and incited them to tear this country apart, create fights and hatred between people, and create division,” Pezeshkian said in a televised speech on Saturday, according to Iran’s official Student News Network. “In any normal protest, they don’t pick up guns, they don’t kill military personnel, they don’t set…
THE military junta in Guinea-Bissau is no longer seeking to arrest a senior opposition politician who has been on the run, an opposition official said on Saturday. But another prominent opposition leader, whom the military released from prison only on Friday, has now been placed under house arrest. The junta imprisoned several senior politicians after overthrowing president Umaro Sissoco Embalo and seizing power on November 26, just days after the presidential election and before the official results were released. The military suspended the electoral process and Embalo fled the country. His main election rival, Fernando Dias, who said he had…