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TWENTY-SEVEN soldiers in Sierra Leone on Monday appeared before a court-martial which charged them with mutiny over their alleged role in what authorities say was an attempted coup in November. Security was stepped up around the courthouse in the capital Freetown where the proceedings were later adjourned to Wednesday. The 27 accused struggled to all squeeze onto the stand at the court-martial. Justice Minister Mohamed Lamin Tarawalley was also present in the courtroom, according to the AFP journalist at the scene. On November 26, armed attackers stormed a military armoury, two barracks, two prisons and two police stations, clashing with…

THE death toll from a petrol tanker explosion in central Liberia has risen to 74, the West African nation’s chief medical officer said Monday. The new figure is sharply up on the previous toll of 40 dead from the December 26 disaster. On Sunday, President George Weah declared a national week of mourning for the victims and their families. “The present toll is over 70 that have died,” Francis Kateh, Liberia’s chief medical officer, told AFP on Monday. “There were others that turned to ashes, and so up until now, we are still trying to figure out” the toll, he…

GERMAN legend Franz Beckenbauer, widely regarded as one of football’s greatest players, has died aged 78. He won the World Cup as captain of West Germany in 1974 and lifted the trophy again as manager in 1990. The former defender also played 582 times for Bayern Munich, again winning the German top flight as both as a player and a manager. Nicknamed Der Kaiser, as a player he also won the European Championship in 1972, as well as the Ballon d’Or twice. A statement from his family to German news agency DPA read: “It is with deep sadness that we…

PEP Guardiola lauded Kevin De Bruyne as a “unique” talent after the Belgian playmaker’s return to action in Manchester City’s FA Cup rout of Huddersfield. The Belgium international came on as a 57th-minute substitute and set up a goal as the holders cruised to a 5-0 win over second-tier strugglers Huddersfield in a thoroughly lopsided clash at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday. This was De Bruyne’s first senior appearance since tearing his hamstring during City’s Premier League opener against Burnley in August. Chants of ‘Oh Kevin De Bruyne’ echoed around the ground when the 32-year-old replaced Julian Alvarez, with City…

AT least 22,835 Palestinians, including over 9,600 children, have been killed by the Israeli army since the start of the war, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It said at least 113 Palestinians were killed and another 250 injured between Saturday and Sunday, Doha broadcaster Al Jazeera reports. The spokesperson of Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza has said more than 8,000 Palestinians in Gaza are missing, presumed to be buried under downed buildings, and tens of thousands have been displaced. Real numbers are believed to be much higher as the authorities in Gaza have been unable to regularly update casualty numbers…

A WOMAN in her 90s trapped for five days under rubble caused by a huge earthquake in central Japan was rescued against the odds, but snow and storms were further complicating relief efforts on Sunday. At least 128 people died in the magnitude-7.5 tremor on New Year’s Day and its aftershocks — a toll that is sure to rise, with 195 others reported missing, according to local authorities. The shockwaves toppled buildings, sparked a major fire and triggered tsunami waves over a metre high on the Sea of Japan side of the main island of Honshu. The hope of finding…

FOUR people have been killed and 40 hospitalised after consuming tainted alcohol in southern Tunisia, an official said. An inquiry has been opened and the person who supplied the alcohol has been arrested, Fethi Baccouche, a spokesman for the Medenine court, told AFP. An analysis of the alcohol is underway to determine what was behind the mass poisoning. Of the 40 surviving victims, most left hospital but some were transferred to the capital Tunis for treatment, Baccouche said, without providing exact numbers. Poisonings from incorrectly produced or adulterated alcohol are common in Tunisia and often fatal. In 2021, Tunisian health…

A FORMER interior minister of The Gambia goes on trial in Switzerland on Monday accused of crimes against humanity. Ousman Sonko faces a lengthy list of charges, including participating in or ordering the killing, torture and rape of political opponents. Sonko has denied all the charges, AFP news agency reports, citing his lawyer Philippe Currat. He fled to Switzerland in 2016, shortly before the repressive regime of Gambian president Yahya Jammeh lost power, but was arrested after non-governmental organisations presented Swiss authorities with evidence of his involvement in human rights violations. Nine of his alleged victims will be in court…

THE presidency has said that it is investigating the transfer of N585.189 million grant meant for vulnerable groups in Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Ogun and Lagos states into a private account. This is just as some civil society organisations called for the sacking of Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu, for directing the payment. They asked the president not to condone impunity, demanding that Edu be removed as minister and made to face interrogation by anti-corruption agencies. “The matter is under investigation,” the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, told this…

OPERATIVES of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps in Kano State have arrested a 25-year-old man, Alkasim Ya’u, for allegedly stabbing his father to death at Tudun Yola ‘C’ area of Gwale Local Government Area of the state. The NSCDC Corps Commandant, Mohammed Falala, disclosed this in a telephone interview in Kano on Sunday. He said the incident occurred on Friday at about 1330 hours at the residence of Alhaji Salisu Bala. “The deceased father, Alhaji Ya’u Mohammed, brought his mentally ill son, Alkasim Ya’u, to Psychiatric Hospital Dawanau for medical treatment, where they booked to see a medical…

THE National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Ganduje has commissioned a VIP lodge and three intra-city roads in the Akwanga Local Government Area of Nasarawa State. Ganduje also received decampees from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Social Democratic Party (SDP), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) at a ceremony in Lafia, the state capital. Among the defectors were former deputy governor and minister, Solomon Ewuga who returned to the party after leaving a few years ago. In his speech on Saturday, Abdullahi said the APC is…

THE Emir of Kano, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero, has condemned the trend of kidnapping and selling children, mostly northern minors, to southern parts of the country. The emir expressed his concern yesterday in Kano while addressing newsmen. Represented by Dan Malikin Kano, Amb Ahmad Umar; the first class traditional ruler said the emirate would no longer condone abduction and trading of children in the state. He said the issue had gotten out of hand and proactive action must be taken to curb it. “This ugly trend must stop. We have to rise up against it. We will no longer condone…

NEWCASTLE ended their 13-year wait to beat bitter rivals Sunderland as Alexander Isak’s double inspired a 3-0 win in the FA Cup third round on Saturday. In the first Tyne and Wear derby since 2016, Eddie Howe’s side put their bitter local rivals to the sword thanks to Dan Ballard’s first-half own goal and Isak’s brace after the break at the Stadium of Light. Newcastle had lost six of their previous seven clashes with Sunderland, but their composed display neutered the fired-up Black Cats and delivered a first derby success since a 1-0 victory in 2011. After four successive defeats…

MASS protests have taken place around Israel, with demonstrators calling for the return of Israeli captives held in Gaza, the removal of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government and an end to the war in Gaza. Several thousand supporters, friends and families of the Israeli captives taken by Hamas on October 7 rallied in Tel Aviv’s “Hostage Square” on Saturday, Al Jazeera reporters on the ground said. “This is unprecedented because, throughout the beginning of this war, everyone had agreed, including the anti-government protesters, that they needed to be unified at a time when there is war, at a time when captives…

THE United Arab Emirates is to put 84 people on trial for terror-related offences, state media said Saturday, a decade after a similar mass trial of government critics. The Gulf state’s attorney general ordered the trial of “mostly members of the terrorist organisation of (the) Muslim Brotherhood”, official news agency WAM said. In 2013, the UAE tried 94 activists, lawyers, students, teachers and other government critics, accusing them of membership of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. Rights groups denounced the proceedings at the time. The trials resulted in jail time for 69 people, many of whom remain in prison. According to…

PARALYMPIAN Oscar Pistorius has been freed on parole from a South African jail, nearly 11 years after murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Officials confirmed Pistorius was “at home” on Saturday morning, having served half of his more than 13-year sentence. Ms Steenkamp’s mother said she accepted the decision to release the former athlete – but added her family was the one “serving a life sentence”. In 2012, Pistorius became the first double amputee to run in the Olympics. Just six months later, he shot Ms Steenkamp multiple times through a toilet door in his house. The shooting and subsequent trials…

MOSES Lugalia has joined Kenya’s budding electric vehicle revolution – by exchanging the noisy roar of his petrol motorbike for the gentle hum of an electric one. The biggest incentive to go electric for the 27-year-old rider of a motorbike taxi – known locally as a “boda-boda” – was the promise of saving money at a time when fuel prices keep rising. Motorbike taxis are everywhere in Kenya, as in many African countries, because they are cheaper than cars, and can be better for navigating the notorious traffic jams in the capital, Nairobi. Mr Lugalia has been in the motorbike…

BRAZILIAN football legend Mario Zagallo, who won four World Cups as a player and coach, has died aged 92. Zagallo was a winger in the Brazil team who won back-to-back World Cups in 1958 and 1962, starting in both finals. He managed the side widely regarded as the greatest international team of all time, including Pele, Jairzinho and Carlos Alberto, to glory in 1970. Zagallo’s final World Cup triumph came as Carlos Alberto Parreira’s assistant coach in 1994. He returned as Brazil manager after that tournament and led them to the final in 1998, where they were beaten by hosts…

THE head of Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group warned Israel Friday that it will respond swiftly “on the battlefield” to the killing of Hamas’s deputy leader in its southern Beirut stronghold. “The response is inevitably coming. We cannot remain silent on a violation of this magnitude because it means the whole of Lebanon would be exposed,” Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech. “The decision is now in the hands of the battlefield,” he said in his second speech since the killing of Saleh al-Aruri. “Fighters from all areas of the border… will be the ones responding to the dangerous violation…

THE US Supreme Court agreed on Friday to hear Donald Trump’s appeal of a ruling by Colorado’s highest court that would keep him off the presidential primary ballot in the western state. The conservative-majority Supreme Court, which includes three justices appointed by the former president, said it would hear oral arguments in the high-stakes election case on February 8. The Colorado Supreme Court barred Trump last month from appearing on the Republican presidential primary ballot in the state because of his role in the January 6, 2021 assault on the US Capitol by his supporters. Lawyers for Trump, the frontrunner…