Author: Editor

THE German defence ministry said Saturday it was checking whether a confidential videoconference on the Ukraine war had been wiretapped after a recording was posted on Russian social media, in a potentially huge embarrassment for Berlin. The head of Russia’s state-backed RT channel, Margarita Simonyan, on Friday posted a 38-minute audio recording of what she claimed were German army officers discussing striking Crimea. “We are investigating whether communications in the air force sector were intercepted,” a spokeswoman for the German defence ministry told AFP. In the recording, discussions can be heard on the possible use by Ukrainian forces of German-made…

A MILITARY court in Somalia has sentenced six Islamic State fighters from Morocco to death. The men will be executed by a firing squad if their appeal, which they have one month to file, is unsuccessful. “They came to Somalia to support Isis [IS} and destroy and shed blood,” the court’s deputy chairman, Col Ali Ibrahim Osman, told VOA Somali. The men’s lawyer said they had been misled into joining IS and were seeking to be deported to Morocco. It is the first time authorities in the semi-autonomous Puntland region have charged or sentenced foreigners for joining IS. The military…

MBOLE-POP star Mr Leo’s next musical mission is to break through to English-speaking audiences – and he hopes his new album will do the trick. The singer-songwriter from Cameroon has been wooing French-speaking West Africa and the diaspora with his melodious love songs and infectious dance tunes since 2015. Born Fonyuy Leonard Nsohburinka, Mr Leo shot to fame with E Go Betta. That first single was one of the biggest tunes on radio and TV in 2015 – in and out of Cameroon. He fuses Afrobeats with the country’s home-grown mbolé music, a blend of the rhythms and sounds of…

PEP Guardiola says he is expecting the “best” from Manchester United even though Manchester City will start Sunday’s derby as red-hot favourites to extend their dominance over their rivals. City have won five of their past six matches against United in all competitions and are 15 points ahead of their opponents in the Premier League. But Guardiola, whose team are chasing a second consecutive trophy treble, said he would not be taking United lightly. “I expect the best from United, but I don’t talk about what they do, about opponents that I respect too much,” he said on Friday. “I…

THE military wing of the Palestinian group Hamas says seven more captives held in the Gaza Strip have died as a result of Israel’s bombardment of the besieged enclave. Abu Obeida, the spokesperson for Hamas’s Qassam Brigades, made the statement on the Telegram app on Friday. The group said it confirmed the news following investigations conducted over the past few weeks after it had lost contact with the fighters who had been holding the captives. Hamas seized about 250 Israelis and foreigners during its October 7 attacks on southern Israel, of whom about 130 are believed to still be held…

FOUR soldiers were killed and nine injured when their military patrol came under attack with explosives while tracking down a criminal group in western Mexico, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Friday. The ambush took place Thursday in a rural area of the Aguililla municipality in Michoacan province, the president said at his daily press conference. The soldiers had stumbled upon a “trap, an explosive” that killed one soldier on the spot and fatally wounded three more, said Lopez Obrador. Nine others were injured. “This is what the Army, the Marine Corps and the National Guard have to face,” said…

THE state-run Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) on Thursday cut power supplies to the parliament over a debt of 23m Ghanaian cedi ($1.8m; £1.4m). The outage interrupted a debate on the president’s State of the Nation speech. A video shared by local media showed MPs in the dimly lit chamber chanting: “Dumsor, dumsor”, which means power outage in the local Akan language. Local media reported that a back-up power generator restored power to the chamber a few minutes later. But other parts of the parliament building remained without power for most of the day before supplies were restored. MPs and…

THE headquarters of the main opposition party in Chad, is being demolished, two days after its leader Yaya Dillo was killed. A large excavator was seen demolishing the three-story building and heavily armed soldiers cordoned off the area with armoured vehicles. Earlier, the Socialist Party Without Borders (PSF) said Dillo was executed by soldiers who shot him a point blank range. The military junta said he was killed during an exchange of gunfire after staging an attack on the country’s security agency. He denied any links to the alleged attack. Dillo was buried by his family on Thursday. There remains…

SHEIKH Aminu Ibrahim Daurawa has announced his resignation as the Commander General of Kano’s Hisbah Board, citing “discouragement” from Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano. Daurawa said he was discouraged by the governor’s comments despite his efforts to promote societal morality during his tenure at Hisbah. In a video shared on his social media handle, Daurawa said, “Currently, I’m in Kaduna State, meeting with lawmakers led by the Speaker to discuss implementing a mandatory pre-marital health check in Kano, similar to other Nigerian states. “However, I’ve encountered discouraging comments from Kano, despite my efforts at Hisbah to promote societal morality.…

PAUL Pogba’s career could be over after his four-year ban for doping with the feeling that the 30-year-old Juventus midfielder never fulfilled his potential. The former Manchester United player, who won the World Cup with France, was supremely talented and in bursts looked an absolute world-beater – but he never really showed it on a consistent basis. He has already said he will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but if that fails, by the time he will be eligible to play again – August 2027 – he will be 34 and be without a club. So it…

SAUDI Arabia’s football governing body on Thursday suspended Cristiano Ronaldo for one game over a gesture he made on the pitch last weekend that was judged a “provocation”. The Saudi Arabian Football Federation said the Al-Nassr captain and former Sporting Lisbon star was also fined a total of 30,000 riyals ($8,000) for the move, which broke rules against provoking the public during a match. The decision cannot be appealed. Video emerged after his side’s 3-2 win against Al-Shabab showing Ronaldo making a repeated thrusting gesture towards his groin in response to crowds taunting him by chanting the name of his…

ISREALI forces in war-torn Gaza opened fire on Palestinians scrambling for food aid in a chaotic melee on Thursday that the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said killed more than 100 people. The Israeli military said a “stampede” occurred when thousands of desperate Gazans surrounded a convoy of 38 aid trucks, leading to dozens of deaths and injuries, including some who were run over by the lorries. An Israeli source acknowledged troops had opened fire on the crowd, believing it “posed a threat”. The Gaza health ministry condemned what it called a “massacre” in Gaza City in which 112…

RUSSIA will introduce a six-month ban on petrol exports from March 1 to ensure it has enough fuel to meet domestic demand, the government said Thursday. Despite being the world’s third largest oil producer, Russia has suffered sporadic fuel shortages since last summer amid high demand and repair works on refineries. Wholesale gasoline prices have risen since the start of the year, a problem exacerbated by repeated Ukrainian drone attacks on oil refineries. “Restrictions on petrol exports are introduced for six months, from 1 March to 31 August,” the government said in a statement Thursday. It said the move was…

FORMER Tanzanian president Ali Hassan Mwinyi, who introduced multi-party democracy to the East African nation, died on Thursday aged 98, the presidency said. “I’m saddened to announce the death… around 5:30 in the evening,” President Samia Suluhu Hassan said on state television TBC1, adding that he had been receiving treatment for lung cancer. Mwinyi had been hospitalised in London in November last year before returning to continue treatment in the main Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam, Hassan said. Tanzania will observe seven days of mourning with national flags flown at half-mast. Hand-picked by independence hero Julius Nyerere to succeed…

ZAMBIA’s President Hakainde Hichilema has declared a national disaster to tackle the prolonged drought affecting the country. Addressing the nation on Thursday afternoon, Mr Hichilema said 84 districts out of a total of 116 were affected. Zambia has been experiencing poor rain, with fears mounting that the country may experience hunger and struggle to meet its electricity demands as most of its energy is from water sources. Water levels at Kariba Dam – which Zambia and neighbouring Zimbabwe use for hydroelectricity – had fallen to about 11.5% of usable storage as of last December. The president said the drought would…

THE Senate, on Thursday, directed the Police Service Commission and the Nigeria Police Force to recruit a minimum of 10 candidates from each of the 774 local government councils in Nigeria. The directive, according to the Upper Chamber, should form part of its annual recruitment processes. The resolution was reached as a result of a motion moved by Sen. Emmanuel, Udende Memga representing Benue North East, on the need for the Police Service Commission and the Nigeria Police Force, to adhere to the Federal Character Principle in the recruitment of constables in the Nigerian Police Force. The Upper Chamber also…

JUVENTUS midfielder Paul Pogba says he is “sad, shocked and heartbroken” after being banned from football for four years for a doping offence. The France international, 30, was provisionally suspended in September after a drugs test found elevated levels of testosterone in his system. “Everything I have built in my professional career has been taken away from me,” he said in a statement. The former Manchester United player added he would appeal. Pogba was randomly tested after Juventus’ first match of the season on 20 August. The positive test was confirmed by Italy’s national anti-doping tribunal in a second sample…

VICTOR Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia netted five goals between them as Napoli thumped Sassuolo 6-1 on Wednesday, harking back to the thrilling attacking partnership which won last season’s Serie A title. Clinical Osimhen scored a hat-trick before Kvaratskhelia bagged a brace of his own as Napoli come from behind to handily win their game in hand and reignite hopes of European football. After Amir Rrahmani levelled just before the half-hour mark, Osimhen rattled in his treble across 16 minutes either side of half-time to take his goal tally since returning from the Africa Cup of Nations to five in three…

At the Nova festival site in southern Israel, attacked by Hamas gunmen on 7 October, the families and friends of Israeli hostages began a long march to Jerusalem on Wednesday. The festival site, near Kibbutz Re’im, is where hundreds of Israelis were killed and hundreds more dragged away into Gaza. The marchers, carrying pictures of those still missing, are demanding that their government do more to bring the remaining 134 hostages home. Their hopes have been raised by talk of a ceasefire. “One hundred and forty-five endless days and nights of yearning for our loved ones,” Ronen Neutra said, addressing…

THE United States said Wednesday more work was needed on reforming the WTO’s dispute settlement system, denying accusations by India that it is bringing the trade body to a standstill. US Trade Representative Katherine Tai spoke on the sidelines of the World Trade Organisation’s 13th ministerial meeting (MC13) in Abu Dhabi, where trade ministers discussed an embattled system of settling trade disputes. Washington brought the system to a grinding halt in 2019 after blocking for years the appointment of new judges to the WTO’s appeals court, the organization’s highest dispute settlement authority. Dispute settlement reform is a “hard issue” but…