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LIBERIA’s outgoing Finance Minister Samuel Tweh has dismissed as false US allegations that he was involved in “significant” corruption. The US put him on a sanctions list on 11 December, barring him and his immediate family from entering the country. Two lawmakers and their families were also placed on the list. The three men were accused of “abusing their public positions through soliciting, accepting, and offering bribes to manipulate legislative processes and public funding”, the US Treasury said. Addressing a news conference in the capital Monrovia, Mr Tweh said they had been “summarily accused and rendered guilty without any due…

PROF Zacchaeus Adangor has resigned as the Attorney-General (AG) and Commissioner for Justice in Rivers State. Adangor’s resignation, dated December 14, 2023, was addressed to Governor Siminalayi Fubara. Adangor’s said his resignation was based “purely on personal decision”. Adangor was Rivers AG under the administration of Nyesom Wike, who was governor from May 2015 to May 2023. His resignation occurred amid the ongoing political crisis rocking the state with the state assembly as the “boxing ring”. The crisis in the 32-member Rivers State House of Assembly had begun as a result of a rift between Fubara and his predecessor, Wike,…

SARINA Wiegman, Emma Hayes and Pep Guardiola are among the nominees for the Best Fifa Coach awards 2023. England manager Wiegman claimed the women’s award last year after the Lionesses won Euro 2022. Chelsea manager Hayes and Barcelona’s Jonatan Giraldez are also on the women’s shortlist. Guardiola, who led Manchester City to the Treble, is alongside Inter Milan’s Simone Inzaghi and Napoli’s Luciano Spalletti on the men’s shortlist. The winners will be announced on Monday, 15 January at a ceremony in London. Wiegman was also named Uefa women’s coach of the year in August. England’s Mary Earps has been shortlisted…

ISRAEL declared its determination Wednesday to press on with its Gaza war “with or without international support” after it came under mounting pressure even from its key backer the United States. Israel’s attacks have left Gaza in ruins, killing more than 18,600 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, and causing “unparallelled” damage to roads, schools and hospitals. The day after the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly backed a non-binding resolution for a ceasefire, more strikes hit Gaza and battles raged, especially in Gaza City, the biggest urban centre, and Khan Yunis and Rafah in the south,…

THE US House of Representatives has voted to formalise its impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. Lawmakers voted along party lines to back a resolution that Republicans say will give them more power to gather evidence and enforce legal demands. Three Republican-led House committees allege bribery and corruption during Mr Biden’s tenure as vice-president. But they have yet to present evidence of wrongdoing, and Mr Biden says his opponents are “attacking me with lies”. The lower chamber of Congress, which Republicans control by a slim eight-seat margin, approved the inquiry on Wednesday afternoon by a vote of 221 to 212.…

A SIERRA Leone court on Wednesday ordered the arrest of Samura Kamara, opposition leader and runner-up in last June’s presidential election, on corruption charges. The Court of Appeal “has ordered the immediate arrest of former All People’s Congress Party (APC) presidential candidate Dr Samura M.W. Kamara” for his alleged involvement in a transaction that involved the sale of shares held by the Sierra Leone government in a mining company in 2012, the court said in a statement. At the time of the alleged offence, Kamara was finance minister under the then president Ernest Bai Koroma. Kamara’s lawyer could not immediately…

THE High Court in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, has sentenced a 25-year-old serial killer to 105 years in prison. Musa Musasizi was sentenced on Wednesday after pleading guilty to the murder of three women said to be his girlfriends and a three-month-old girl who was the child of one of his victims. He reportedly pursued romantic relationships with the women before sexually assaulting and killing them, then burning and disposing of their bodies, the court heard. Justice Margaret Mutonyi said the long sentence was necessary to protect young women, including Musasizi’s six-year-old daughter, the privately-owned NTV channel reported. Musasizi had been…

PAUL Pogba will face Italy’s anti-doping tribunal on January 18 after testing positive for testosterone earlier this year, Italian media reported on Tuesday. The Juventus and former Manchester United midfielder faces a potentially lengthy ban following the hearing at the NADO tribunal in Rome. Neither the tribunal nor Pogba’s representatives responded to requests for confirmation of the hearing date. Last week anti-doping prosecutors called for Pogba, 30, to be banned for four years following his provisional suspension in September. Pogba could cut his requested ban in half if he demonstrates that he did not intentionally dope, while he may only…

THE World Health Organization said Tuesday that a patient had died in an emergency convoy en route to a Gaza City hospital, during repeated and lengthy Israeli checks. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at the weekend that the UN health agency and its partners had managed to deliver essential trauma and surgical supplies to the Al-Ahli hospital and to transfer 19 critical patients. But on Tuesday, he provided more details about the high-risk mission, saying on X, formerly Twitter, that the WHO was “deeply concerned about prolonged checks and detention of health workers that put lives of already fragile…

Federal prosecutors asked the US Supreme Court on Monday to rule quickly on whether former president Donald Trump has immunity from prosecution so his trial on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election can go ahead as scheduled. “This case presents a fundamental question at the heart of our democracy: whether a former President is absolutely immune from federal prosecution for crimes committed while in office,” Special Counsel Jack Smith said in a filing to the nation’s highest court. Smith asked the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, including three justices nominated by Trump, for an expedited…

MANY Zimbabweans have reacted with astonishment after Mthuli Ncube was named “Best African Finance Minister of the Year” despite the country’s economic turmoil. One user on X, formerly known as Twitter, said the award was “akin to applauding a captain for steering a ship straight into an iceberg”. Another user called it “the greatest joke of the decade”. Zimbabwe’s unemployment rate is as high as 85%, economists say. Up to 80% of transactions are carried out in US dollars because of a lack of confidence in the local currency, according to the Reuters news agency. Reputation Poll International – an…

AWARD-WINNING South African Afro-pop singer Bulelwa Mkutukana, popularly known as Zahara, has died, the country’s culture minister has said. She had been in hospital, reportedly with liver complications, and the government had been assisting the family “for some time”, Culture Minister Zizi Kodwa said. The songstress won fame in 2011 with her album Loliwe, loved across Africa. In 2019, Zahara opened up about her battle with alcohol addiction. “Zahara and her guitar made an incredible and lasting impact in South African music,” Mr Kodwa posted on X, formerly Twitter. Last month, the family confirmed the musician had been admitted to…

TARABA State Governor, Dr. Agbu Kefas, has described as shocking the death of NTA broadcaster, Aisha Bello. He said the loss was coming at a time when the nation greatly needs her mentoring services, adding that her 35 years of dedication to her profession was noteworthy. Kefas, in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Digital Communications, Emmanuel Bello, added that the world of journalism has lost one of its finest. He described the late Aisha Bello as a passionate television personality who adroitly told the news with her presence. He said she made news more interesting…

TURKISH football bosses suspended all leagues after a referee was punched to the ground by a club president following a top-flight game on Monday. Halil Umut Meler was struck by MKE Ankaragucu president Faruk Koca, who ran on to the pitch after his team conceded a 97th-minute equaliser in a 1-1 Super Lig draw with Caykur Rizespor. “The matches in all leagues have been postponed indefinitely,” Turkish FA [TFF] chairman Mehmet Buyukeksi said in a news conference. “This attack is a night of shame for Turkish football,” he added. Meler received several blows from others as he lay on the…

ISRAEL’s bombardment of Gaza is “narrowing the window” for a new truce, the Qatari prime minister has said. Speaking at the Doha Forum, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said Qatar would continue its efforts to pressure both sides into a ceasefire. The Gulf state played a key role negotiating the week-long pause in violence at the end of November, which allowed the release of hostages. The comments come as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues to worsen. On Sunday afternoon, the Hamas-run health agency in Gaza said almost 18,000 Palestinians had now been killed. In an audio message to Al…

VOTING for the Russian presidential election, which is likely to see Vladimir Putin re-elected, will be held in four Ukrainian regions the Kremlin claimed to have annexed last year, Moscow said on Monday. The Central Elections Commission said voting in March would go ahead in Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson — regions of Ukraine over which Russia still does not have full military control. “The decision was adopted unanimously,” commission vice-president Nikolay Bulayev said, according to the state-run news agency TASS. The election will be held over a three-day period from March 15 to 17, a move that Kremlin critics…

AT least 100 elephants have died in Zimbabwe’s biggest national park as water holes have dried up, an international animal welfare group said Monday. The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) said an “extended dry season has reduced once abundant water holes to muddy puddles” in Hwange National Park. “At least 100 elephants are already reported dead due to lack of water,” IFAW said in a statement. Hwange covers more than 14,600 square kilometres (5,600 square miles) and is home to about 45,000 elephants. “Despite having 104 solar-powered boreholes, park authorities say it isn’t enough and no match for extreme…

THE UN mission in Mali officially ended a 10-year deployment in the country on Monday, its spokesperson said, in a pull-out ordered by Mali’s military leaders. The mission, known as MINUSMA, lowered the United Nations flag on its headquarters in the capital Bamako, its spokesperson Fatoumata Kaba told AFP. The symbolic ceremony marks the official end of the mission, she said. A “liquidation phase” will take place after January 1, involving activities such as handing over remaining equipment to the authorities. The withdrawal of the UN stabilisation mission, known as MINUSMA, has ignited fears that fighting will intensify between troops…

GIRONA underlined their La Liga title credentials with a famous victory at Barcelona to move top of the table. Goals from Artem Dovbyk, Miguel Gutierrez, Valery Fernandez and Cristhian Stuani gave the visitors a deserved first ever league win over their Catalan rivals. Robert Lewandowski’s header and Ilkay Gundogan’s late goal were mere consolations for Barca. The result sees Girona open up a two-point gap to Real Madrid. Michel’s side are also seven clear of third-placed Atletico Madrid and Barca, who are fourth. Girona’s rise to the top may have taken many by surprise but on this evidence they have…

MEDIATION efforts are continuing to secure a new Gaza ceasefire and free more hostages held by Hamas despite ongoing Israeli bombardment that is “narrowing the window” for a successful outcome, Qatar’s prime minister said Sunday. “Our efforts as the state of Qatar along with our partners are continuing. We are not going to give up,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told the Doha Forum, adding that “the continuation of the bombardment is just narrowing this window for us”. The Israeli offensive has killed at least 17,700 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, many of them women…