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A SENIOR Hamas leader has refused to acknowledge that his group killed civilians in Israel, claiming only conscripts were targeted. Moussa Abu Marzouk told the BBC that “women, children and civilians were exempt” from Hamas’s attacks. His claims are in stark contrast to the wealth of video evidence of Hamas men shooting unarmed adults and children. Israel says more than 1,400 people were killed by Hamas in the 7 October attacks, most of them civilians. Mr Marzouk, the group’s deputy political leader, who is subject to an asset freeze in the UK under counter-terrorism regulations, was interviewed on Saturday in…

SEPARATIST rebels on Monday killed around 20 people, including women and children, in an attack on a village in one of Cameroon’s restive anglophone regions, the government said. The overnight assault occurred at Egbekaw village, western Cameroon, the scene of deadly clashes between rebels and government forces for seven years. “There were men, women, and children, more than 20 killed,” minister at the presidency Mengot Victor Arrey-Nkongho told public radio. “It’s intolerable.” Cameroon’s primarily English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions have been gripped by conflict since separatists declared independence in 2017. That followed decades of grievances over perceived discrimination by the…

THE South African government said on Monday it would recall all its diplomats from Israel to “signal” its concern over the situation in Gaza. Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, a minister in the president’s office, told a press briefing that all diplomatic staff in Tel Aviv would be asked back to Pretoria for consultations, without providing further details. “We are… extremely concerned at the continued killing of children and innocent civilians in the Palestinian territories and we believe the nature of response by Israel has become one of collective punishment,” Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor told a later press conference. “We felt it important…

LUIS Diaz came off the bench to salvage a point for Liverpool with a stoppage-time goal at Luton in his first match since his parents were kidnapped in Colombia. Diaz’s father remains missing, and the forward lifted his shirt to show a message of “freedom for papa” after heading in Harvey Elliott’s cross five minutes into added time. He later issued a statement calling for those holding his father to release him “immediately”. The 26-year-old former Porto player had last featured in a Liverpool squad 10 days ago, but manager Jurgen Klopp said before this match that Diaz “wanted to…

AN Israeli minister was suspended from government meetings “until further notice” on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said, after suggesting in an interview dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza. Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu, an ultranationalist politician part of Netnayahu’s ruling coalition, told Israel’s Kol Barama radio he was not entirely satisfied with the scale of Israel’s retaliation in the Palestinian territory after Hamas fighters carried out a deadly attack on October 7 inside southern Israel. The attacks killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, Israeli officials say. Israel’s military campaign in Gaza since October 7 has killed 9,488 people, most of…

A RADIO broadcaster was fatally shot inside his studio in the Philippines on Sunday, police said, the latest in a long list of journalists killed in the country. Juan Jumalon, 57, was in his home-based studio on the southern island of Mindanao when a gunman shot him in the head, said Captain Deore Ragonio, police chief in Calamba municipality. Jumalon is the fourth journalist to be slain since President Ferdinand Marcos took office in June of 2022, the National Union of Journalists said, condemning “the brazen killing”. The archipelago nation is one of the most dangerous places in the world…

GHANA’s governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has chosen Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia as its presidential candidate in next year’s election. He will be the first northerner and Muslim to contest the presidency under the NPP’s banner since multi-party democracy was restored in 1992. In his victory speech, Mr Bawumia promised to lead a “united and energised” NPP into the election. He won the primaries by a convincing margin, getting 61.47% of the vote. Mr Bawumia’s nearest rival Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, who got 37.4% of the vote, accepted defeat. President Nana Akufo-Addo, a member of the NPP, will step down after…

THOUSANDS of people are trapped in flooded areas following heavy rains in Somalia’s Jubbaland state, the UN’s humanitarian agency says. The heavy rains that started last month have elevated the water levels on Juba river, causing flooding in riverine areas of the state, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) said in a statement. “In Luuq district, 2,400 people have been trapped in an area surrounded by water,” the statement added. Efforts by authorities and rescue partners are underway to evacuate the stranded locals. At least 14 people have died and 47,000 displaced in the flash floods across…

HARRY Kane scored a hat-trick as Bayern Munich thrashed Borussia Dortmund 4-0 away on Saturday, closing the gap with leaders Bayer Leverkusen to two points. Bayern captain Manuel Neuer lauded his striker, telling German TV “that’s his experience, he brought it with him to the Bundesliga from England and he shows us it week after week.” “We’ve got some quick guys up front and with them, we really hurt Dortmund.” Stung by a midweek German Cup elimination by third-division Saarbruecken, Leverkusen’s 3-2 win at Hoffenheim on Saturday meant injury-hit Bayern were five points behind Xabi Alonso’s side at kickoff. Bayern…

LAYAN al-Baz cries in agony when the effect fades of the painkillers she receives after her legs were amputated — the result of a strike on Gaza as Israel fights Hamas. “I don’t want a false leg,” the 13-year-old Palestinian tells AFP in Khan Yunis’s Nasser hospital, in the southern Gaza Strip, where getting artificial limbs was nearly impossible anyway. The impoverished Palestinian territory, under a crippling Israeli-led blockade for years and besieged since war erupted on October 7, suffers severe shortages of food, water and fuel, and medical supplies are scarce. “I want them to put my legs back,…

MORE than 150 people have been killed after an earthquake struck remote western Nepal on Friday. Security forces have been deployed to help rescue efforts in the rugged districts of Jajarkot and West Rukum, 500km (310 miles) west of Kathmandu. Strong tremors were felt far away in the Nepalese capital and in cities in neighbouring India, including Delhi. The government said about 375 people had been injured. Jajarkot’s hospital is packed with the wounded. Some people have had to be airlifted as far as Kathmandu, but officials are worried about getting others out after nightfall. One survivor, Geethakumari Bista, told…

GUINEA’s former military ruler, Moussa Dadis Camara, is back in jail after being taken from prison by armed men, according to his lawyer. The group stormed a jail in the capital, Conakry, early on Saturday morning – taking Capt Camara and three others. Those taken are currently on trial for their alleged roles in deaths of more than 150 people in a 2009 protest. Besides Capt Camara, two other prisoners have also been found. It is unclear if they were kidnapped or freed by their supporters. Capt Camara’s lawyer earlier told the BBC the former leader was taken against his…

US investment could help African countries make the most of its critical minerals and industrialise their economies, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has said At the opening ceremony of a major US-Africa trade summit in Johannesburg, he said: “Africa is an important source of critical raw materials, but we do not want to be defined as simply the producers of commodities.” He added that African countries would profit greatly from keeping these materials in-house and transforming them into goods that can then be sold globally, rather than exporting the resources to countries with greater manufacturing capabilities. “We look forward to…

GUINEA has foiled an attempted coup as the former head of Guinea’s 2008 military junta, Moussa Camara, was sprung from prison by heavily armed men in Conakry in the early hours of Saturday. He was taken along with three other high-ranking officers, Justice Minister, Charles Wright said. Residents told local reporters that military vehicles and special forces were policing the streets of the Guinean capital after shots were heard in the Kaloum administrative district, where Camara and others were held at the Central House prison. “It was around 0500 (0500 GMT) that heavily armed men burst into the Central House…

BUNDESLIGA club Mainz sacked footballer Anwar El Ghazi on Friday, hours after German prosecutors opened an investigation over his social media posts on the Israel-Hamas war. Mainz tweeted they were “ending the contractual relationship with Anwar El Ghazi and terminated the player with immediate effect”. Mainz also clarified in a statement that they were “taking this action in response to the player’s statements and posts on social media”. Earlier on Friday, German prosecutors said the Dutch footballer is suspected of “disturbing public peace by condoning criminal acts in conjunction with incitement to hatred” through his message on Instagram. El Ghazi…

AT least 13 people have been killed in a blast outside Gaza City’s biggest hospital, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says. BBC Verify has verified graphic videos showing badly injured and possibly dead people lying outside the hospital. The Israeli military has confirmed it struck an ambulance that it says was being used by Hamas operatives. It did not say where the air strike took place. “An IDF aircraft struck an ambulance that was identified by forces as being used by a Hamas terrorist cell in close proximity to their position in the battle zone,” it said in a…

CROATIAN Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic Radman sparked controversy on Friday after his attempt to kiss his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock while posing for a group photo in Berlin went viral online. The video shows Radman, 65, reaching out to Baerbock to shake her hand and trying to kiss her on the cheek at a photoshoot during an EU conference Thursday, while the German foreign affairs minister dodges his affections. The gesture drew fierce debate on social media and sparked outrage from feminist groups, but Grlic Radman shrugged off the criticism. “I don’t know what the problem was… We always greet…

KING Charles and Queen Camilla have ended a state visit to Kenya by posing in a tuk-tuk used by commuters on the streets of Mombasa. Sat in the three-wheeled vehicle, the King quipped to reporters: “Maybe we can use this to get to the airport.” Tuk-tuks are used widely across Kenya as an affordable form of transport. The visit was the King’s first to a former British colony since he came to the throne last year. He focused on the two countries’ cooperation on economic development, climate change and security issues. He also expressed his “deepest regret” for the violence…

SACKED Twitter staffers in Africa are threatening to sue the company for failing to pay out the redundancy money they say they were promised. Most had only been in the job a matter of months when the social media platform, now known as X, told them they were fired last November. “It’s difficult when it’s the world’s richest man owing you money and closure,” one of the sacked workers tells the BBC. The BBC has approached X for comment several times but was rebuffed with, among other things, a smiling poo emoji. A more recent attempt received this response: “Busy…

MANCHESTER United’s ownership situation needs a quicker resolution to bring greater clarity to Erik ten Hag’s position, numerous sources connected to the club have told BBC Sport. The Dutchman is under pressure following successive 3-0 home defeats by Manchester City and Newcastle. Ten Hag says he is “a fighter” and admitted United are “in a bad place”, while club officials have attempted to play down speculation about his future. United face a run of “must-win” games. Saturday’s trip to Fulham, opponents United have not lost to since 2009, is followed by a Champions League trip to Denmark to face FC…