SEVERE flooding and landslides have killed at least 47 people and wounded 80 others in northern Tanzania, local officials say. It happened near the slopes of Mount Hanang, where President Samia Hassan has now deployed national security forces to help rescue efforts. Homes and infrastructure were also damaged by the adverse weather. Flooding is said to be the greatest natural hazard in Tanzania, affecting tens of thousands of people each year. East Africa has been badly hit by floods and landslides in 2023, partly caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon. Last month in Tanzania, higher than usual rainfall resulted…
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SIERRA Leonean President Julius Maada Bio said on Saturday that his government’s response to an attempted coup last week would be dictated by “respect for the law”. “The attempted coup will be treated by my government as a simple matter of public order and not as a political, tribal or religious issue,” Bio said in a speech to the nation. “Our response to the events of 26 November will be measured and determined by a single parameter: respect for the law, no more, no less.” Armed attackers had stormed a military armoury, two barracks, two prisons and two police stations,…
THE Presidency on Sunday said only a handful of the 1,411 Nigerian delegates who registered to attend the COP28 Climate Summit in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, are sponsored by the Federal Government. This was, as it said, a bulk of the contingents comprised private sector players such as businesspeople, Civil Society Organisations and delegates from Nigeria’s oil-producing Niger Delta region. It also argued that the delegates are at the Summit to promote their respective causes and not for a jamboree. “It is important to state here that delegates from all countries, whether from government, private sector, media and civil…
TEN-MAN Germany beat France on penalties to win the Under-17 World Cup football final in Indonesia on Saturday, becoming the first team to win the world and European age titles in the same year. The match went to extra time when the teams were unable to break a 2-2 deadlock in humid conditions in Surakarta on Java island. The young Germans then held their nerve in the penalty shootout to beat the Blues and win their first Under-17 world title in a rematch of this year’s European Championship final, which they also won on penalties. Goalkeeper Konstantin Heide was the…
NEWCASTLE shrugged off an injury crisis to beat Manchester United 1-0 on Saturday thanks to Anthony Gordon’s second-half winner. Victory takes Eddie Howe’s men above United into fifth in the Premier League table and was the very least the home side deserved for a dominant display that should have been rewarded with more goals. Gordon’s solitary strike proved enough as he slotted in Kieran Trippier’s cross on 55 minutes. But the three points came at a cost for Newcastle as goalkeeper Nick Pope hobbled off late on to add to their injury woes. The Magpies were without 11 first-team players…
ISRAEL has carried out intense air strikes on Khan Younis in southern Gaza, with residents describing it as the heaviest bombing of the war. People in eastern areas of the city have been told by the Israeli military to evacuate further to the south. Israel believes some Hamas leaders are in the city, where many civilians are sheltering after fleeing the north. Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says at least 240 people have been killed in the latest wave of Israeli attacks. On Friday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) resumed its offensive against Hamas in Gaza, launched in response to the…
A MAN has died and two others have been injured in a knife and hammer attack on a street in central Paris. France’s Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said an attacker had targeted tourists around the Quai de Grenelle, which is close to the Eiffel Tower. He added that a 26-year-old French national known to security services had been arrested. The suspect approached a tourist couple and fatally stabbed a German national, he said. The man was then pursued by police and attacked two other people with a hammer before being stopped with a Taser and arrested. The injured were treated…
GUINEA-BISSAU’s President Umaro Sissoco Embalo on Saturday said this week’s deadly violence involving members of the National Guard was an “attempted coup” as the army ordered them back to barracks. The unrest between members of the National Guard and special forces of the presidential guard on Thursday night in the capital Bissau left at least two people dead. Embalo, who was in Dubai attending the COP28 climate conference, arrived in Bissau on Saturday and said an “attempted coup d’etat” had prevented him from returning. “I must tell you this act will have serious consequences,” he added. Embalo said the coup…
AS many as half a million people have descended on Ethiopia’s sacred city of Aksum, according to its mayor, for a religious festival taking place for the first time since the civil war in the northern region of Tigray ended. Aksum is a holy site for Ethiopian Orthodox Christians who say it is home to the Ark of the Covenant, believed to contain the 10 commandments handed down to Moses by God – and later brought to the city from Jerusalem. It is constantly under guard at the city’s Our Lady Mary of Zion Church and no-one is allowed to…
NIGERIA will continue to engage with the government of Niger Republic to ensure the release of the country’s deposed President Mohamed Bazoum, Minister of Foreign Affairs Yusuf Tuggar has said. Bazoum has not been released since the junta struck in the West African country earlier in the year. But Tuggar said Nigeria, which plays a critical role in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) bloc, won’t relent on pressing for Bazoum’s freedom. Speaking to newsmen on the sidelines of the United Nations Climate Conference in Dubai, the Minister said Nigeria is not under any pressure to act against…
THE Nigeria Immigration Service on Friday said that barring unforeseen technical issues, Nigerians would get their passports three weeks after the day of submission of the application. The Comptroller General, Mrs Caroline Adepoju, disclosed this on Friday while speaking to newsmen at the unveiling of the Igbogbo Passport Front Office in the Igbogbo-Baiyeku Local Council Development Area of Ikorodu, Lagos State. Adepoju, who said the opening of the Igbogbo office was her first assignment after her confirmation as the substantive Comptroller General of the NIS earlier on Friday, said, “I can tell you, barring all technical problems, you should be…
ERIK ten Hag rode to the defence of under-fire goalkeeper Andre Onana on Friday as he claimed the Cameroonian’s stats prove he is among the Premier League’s best. Onana’s start to his United career has been riddled with high-profile errors in the Champions League that have put the Red Devils on the brink of a group stage exit. He was at fault as two Hakim Ziyech free-kicks kickstarted a Galatasaray fightback in a 3-3 draw in Istanbul on Wednesday. That took United’s tally of conceded goals in their five Champions League games to 14. But it has been a different…
GERMANY and France are set to clash Saturday in the Under-17 World Cup football final in Indonesia, a rematch of this year’s Euro final in the category the Germans won on penalties. The young Germans, who also beat France 3-1 in the group stage of the Euros last June, are bidding for their first world title. Borussia Dortmund forward Paris Brunner, 17, will lead the German attack having scored a brace in the semi-final against Argentina. Jean-Luc Vannuchi’s France beat Mali 2-1 in their semi-final and boast a defence which has so far only conceded one goal. “Germany are a…
ISRAELI shelling has killed three people in southern Lebanon, Lebanon’s state news agency reports after the end of a truce between Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas prompted a resumption of hostilities at the Israel-Lebanon border. The Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, said one of its fighters was among those killed on Friday. It said it had carried out several attacks on Israeli military positions at the border in support of Palestinians in Gaza, where a weeklong pause in the fighting ended early in the day. The Israeli army said its artillery struck sources of fire from…
ELON Musk’s verbal assault on advertisers who have shunned X (formerly Twitter) threatens to sink the social network further, with the tycoon warning of the platform’s demise, just one year after taking control. “If somebody’s gonna try to blackmail me with advertising, go fuck yourself,” a visibly furious Musk told an interviewer in New York in front of an audience of the US business elite this week. Musk was lashing out at the advertisers who had abandoned his platform after Media Matters, a left-wing media watchdog group, warned big companies that their ads were running aside posts by neo-Nazis. Walmart…
MORE than 30 people were feared trapped Friday in a mine collapse in a Zambian region known for illegal open-cast digging for copper, a minister said. “May I just inform the nation that we have a tragedy brewing in Chingola,” Home Affairs Minister Jack Mwiimbu told parliament. “We have more than 30 people under the rubble” in a makeshift mine, he added, without giving further details. The mines ministry made no comment saying it would make an inspection first at the site in the Chingola region, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of the capital Lusaka. Zambia is one of…
A MAN described as the leader of a group of soldiers who tried to free a detained minister and a senior state official in Guinea-Bissau has been caught, the military says. Heavy gunfire was reported in the capital on Friday morning. Members of the National Guard had taken the officials before seeking refuge in barracks south of the city. Special forces then intervened after attempts to negotiate failed, resulting in an exchange of gunfire. Calm is said to have been restored later. The “situation is completely under control”, the AFP news agency quotes an army spokesman as saying. Finance Minister…
THE House of Representatives has accused the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) of hiding billions of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) thereby depriving the nation of its financial responsibility. The House of Reps Committee on Finance subsequently threatened to remove the Director General, Capt. Musa Shuaibu Nuhu and other top officials from the authority to allow for more transparent leaders. Rep. James Falake (APC-Lagos) said this at the resumed interactive session with revenue-generating agencies in Abuja on Friday. He said the NCAA was hiding revenue generated, and that was why it had refused to give the committee the requested data on…
BRIGHTON booked their place in the Europa League knockout stage with a 1-0 win at AEK Athens, while West Ham also advanced after a late Tomas Soucek goal against Backa Topola on Thursday. Roberto De Zerbi’s side are competing in Europe for the first time in their history and the Seagulls’ adventure will continue into the new year thanks to Joao Pedro’s winner in Greece. Brighton sit two points above Marseille at the top of Group B, with the French club able to regain pole position if they beat Ajax later on Thursday. Europa League group winners go through to…
PALESTINIAN prisoners released from Israeli jails say that guards carried out abuse and collective punishment in the weeks after the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October. They have described being hit with sticks, having muzzled dogs set on them, and their clothes, food and blankets taken away. One female prisoner has said she was threatened with rape, and that guards twice tear-gassed inmates inside the cells. The BBC spoke to six people in total, all of whom said they were beaten before leaving jail. The Palestinian Prisoners Society says some guards are alleged to have urinated on handcuffed prisoners.…