MORE than 6,000 people were killed in just three days when Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized the city of el-Fasher last year, according to victims and witnesses cited in a UN report. “It was like a scene out of a horror movie,” recalled one person, who saw bodies thrown into the air as RSF fighters opened fire on 1,000 people sheltering in a university building last October. The report cites evidence of mass killings, summary executions, torture, abductions and sexual violence against civilians. These amount to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity, it says. The RSF has…
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GHANAIANS have rushed to defend their colourful handwoven “fugu” smocks after President John Mahama’s wearing of the loose-fitting traditional garment on a recent state visit to Zambia caused an online storm. Traditionally produced in northern Ghana on narrow-strip looms, the fugu is widely treated as the West African country’s national costume, worn at festivals, political events, and—increasingly—in offices and public life. But Mahama’s choice to walk the red carpet and inspect a guard-of-honour parade in Lusaka while rocking a blue-white-grey striped version of the flare-armed tunic drew mockery from non-Ghanaians on social media, with some calling the garment inappropriate for…
ENGLAND will face Spain, Croatia and the Czech Republic in the 2026-27 Uefa Nations League group stage, while Wales are in the same group as champions Portugal. England and Wales, who will also play Denmark and Norway in a bid to qualify for the knockout stages, both secured promotion to League A in the 2024-2025 competition. Scotland, who will compete at their first World Cup since 1998 this summer, will meet Switzerland, Slovenia and North Macedonia in their League B group. Also in League B, Northern Ireland will play Hungary, Ukraine and Georgia, while the Republic of Ireland face Israel,…
US President Donald Trump will announce a multi-billion dollar reconstruction plan for Gaza and detail plans for a UN-authorized stabilization force for the Palestinian enclave at the first formal meeting of his Board of Peace next week, two senior US officials said on Thursday. Delegations from at least 20 countries, including many heads of state, are expected to attend the meeting in Washington, DC, which Trump will chair on February 19, the officials told Reuters on condition of anonymity. The details on Trump’s plans for the first meeting of his Board of Peace for Gaza have not been previously reported.…
NORTH Korean leader Kim Jong Un has entrenched his daughter as heir apparent ahead of a landmark party conference, a South Korean lawmaker said on Thursday after a briefing from Seoul’s main intelligence agency. The Kim family has ruled North Korea with an iron grip for decades, and a strong personality-driven leadership tradition surrounding their “Paektu bloodline” dominates daily life in the isolated country. Kim’s teenage daughter Ju Ae has long been seen as the next in line, a perception stoked by a string of recent high-profile outings. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said Ju Ae has now been clearly…
KENYA’s border with Somalia will re-open in April almost 15 years after it shut because of attacks by Islamist militant group al-Shabab, President William Ruto has announced. Based in Somalia, the group has masterminded a series of deadly assaults in Kenya including one on a shopping centre in the capital, Nairobi, killing 67 people in 2013 and one at a university in Garissa two years later killing 148. The plan has been announced before, in 2023, but further attacks postponed the arrangements. Ruto said the intention to re-open two crossings follows years of security assessments, adding that there will be…
AT least 21 people have died after a passenger boat sank in River Nile state in northern Sudan, a medical group has told the BBC. The boat was travelling between the villages of Tayba al-Khawad and Deim al-Qarai, carrying nearly 30 passengers, including women, elderly people and children, the Sudan Doctors Network said. “Rescue teams are continuing with their work since there could be more bodies,” said Dr Mohamed Faisal Hassan, the network’s spokesperson. Authorities in River Nile state said on Thursday that 21 bodies had been recovered, AFP news agency reported. Eyewitnesses said the boat capsized due to high…
MANCHESTER City ramped up the pressure on Premier League leaders Arsenal by strolling to a 3-0 win over Fulham on Wednesday to cut the gap at the top to three points. Pep Guardiola has sought solutions to his side’s second-half slumps that have cost them precious points in the title race. But City had the job done by half-time as three goals in 15 first-half minutes from Antoine Semenyo, Nico O’Reilly, and Erling Haaland secured a 20th consecutive win over Fulham in all competitions. Arsenal can stretch their lead back to six points when they visit in-form Brentford on Thursday.…
IT is 5:30 in the morning. The sun hasn’t fully risen, but 15-year-old Mahmoud rubs the sleep from his eyes. He woke up this morning not in a warm bed, but on a thin mattress in a crowded tent – displaced, like hundreds of thousands of others in Gaza. And Mahmoud did not reach for a schoolbag to get ready for school. Instead, he picked up a rough, frayed burlap sack. “The sack is empty now, but I feel its weight even before I fill it,” Mahmoud said, as he looked at his palms, calloused and scarred from carrying the…
IRAN’s security chief Ali Larijani has accused Israel of attempting to sabotage negotiations with the United States over Tehran’s nuclear programme, so it can ignite a new war that would destabilise the region. In an interview with Al Jazeera Arabic during his visit to Doha, Qatar, where he met top officials on Wednesday, Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said Israel had been fabricating pretexts to try to derail the negotiations with Washington, as the renewed talks were at a delicate stage. “Our negotiations are exclusively with the United States – we are not engaged in any talks…
A DRONE attack on a mosque in central Sudan has killed two children and injured 13 more, according to a Sudanese doctor’s association, amid a rise in similar attacks across the region. The Sudan Doctors Network said the attack was carried out at dawn on Wednesday by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group engaged in a three-year civil war with the Sudanese Armed Forces. The children were reportedly studying the Quran at the Sheikh Ahmed al-Badawi Mosque in North Kordofan State when the building was hit by a drone in a “blatant violation of international humanitarian law and…
AT least 31 people have died after a powerful cyclone struck Madagascar, says the disaster authority in the Indian Ocean island. Cyclone Gezani made landfall on Tuesday, hitting the island’s main port, Toamasina. Madagascar’s disaster management office said there was “total chaos” – reporting that houses collapsed in the impact zone, where the bodies were found. Neighbourhoods were plunged into darkness as power lines snapped, while trees were uprooted and roofs ripped off. “What happened is a disaster, nearly 75% of the city of Toamasina was destroyed,” the country’s military leader Colonel Michael Randrianirina, who seized power in October, told…
BENJAMIN Sesko struck in the 96th minute to preserve Michael Carrick’s unbeaten start as Manchester United caretaker head coach and deny West Ham United a crucial win in their battle to avoid relegation. Carrick had won his first four games in charge, a run of victories that had been beyond his predecessor Ruben Amorim, but the sequence of wins came to an end on a rain-lashed night in east London. Carrick will however be grateful for a point after Tomas Soucek’s strike early in the second half put Nuno Espirito Santo’s side on course for a fourth win in five…
AT dawn on August 10, 2024, Yasmin Mahani walked through the smoking ruins of al-Tabin school in Gaza City, searching for her son, Saad. She found her husband screaming, but of Saad, there was no trace. “I went into the mosque and found myself stepping on flesh and blood,” Mahani told Al Jazeera Arabic for an investigation that aired on Monday. She searched hospitals and morgues for days. “We found nothing of Saad. Not even a body to bury. That was the hardest part.” Mahani is one of thousands of Palestinians whose loved ones have simply vanished during Israel’s genocidal…
COLOMBIAN President Gustavo Petro says that he has escaped an assassination attempt while travelling by helicopter with his daughters, after warning for months about an alleged plot by drug traffickers who want to target him. Petro said on Tuesday that his helicopter was unable to land at a destination on Colombia’s Caribbean coast the previous day because of fears that unspecified people “were going to shoot”. “Last night, I couldn’t land because I was informed that they were going to shoot at the helicopter I was travelling in with my daughters,” Petro said in a report carried by the public…
ZIMBABWE’s cabinet backed draft legislation that would change the constitution to extend presidential terms from five years to seven, allowing President Emmerson Mnangagwa to stay in office until 2030. Other proposed changes in the bill presented to the cabinet on Tuesday include a provision that the president be elected by parliament rather than through a direct popular vote. Others include allowing the president to appoint 10 more senators, boosting the Senate to 90 seats. Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi told a news conference the bill will be sent to the speaker of parliament and published in an official gazette before lawmakers…
ZAMBIA’s High Court has ordered the seizure of assets worth more than $1.3m (£923,000) from Dalitso Lungu, the son of former President Edgar Lungu. The forfeiture order covers 79 vehicles and 23 pieces of land and real estate, including a shopping mall, petrol station, “luxury apartments and an executive residence” in the capital, Lusaka. The judgement said the 39-year-old and his company had failed to provide a credible and verifiable explanation for how the assets were acquired lawfully. Edgar Lungu, who led Zambia for six years from 2015, died in South Africa last June but has yet to be buried…
Al NASSR are expecting Cristiano Ronaldo to end his strike and play again for them on Saturday. The 41-year-old has missed his side’s last two Saudi Pro League (SPL) games because he has been unhappy with the way Al Nassr are being run. After receiving assurances, Ronaldo is expected to return for Saturday’s SPL game at Al Fateh. Before that game, Al Nassr have an Asian Champions League Two game against Arkadag in Turkmenistan on Wednesday. The Portugal captain has missed Al Nassr’s last two games after not featuring in Friday’s Saudi Pro League home win over Al Ittihad. Ronaldo…
AT LEAST four Palestinians have been killed and several others wounded after Israeli forces bombed a residential building sheltering displaced people in Gaza City in a further violation of an October “ceasefire”. The Israeli air attack took place in Gaza City’s Nassr neighbourhood and brought the number of people killed on Monday to at least seven. Footage from the scene showed emergency teams transporting casualties in ambulances as residents carried a body towards the morgue at al-Shifa Hospital. Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim Al Khalili, reporting from Gaza City, said the targeted building had been damaged during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza…
THE United States has issued new guidelines to US-flagged ships travelling through the Strait of Hormuz, calling on them to stay away from Iran’s territorial waters amid tensions between Washington and Tehran. The advisory, released by the US Maritime Administration on Monday, also urged the captains of American ships against granting Iranian forces permission to board US vessels. “If Iranian forces board a US-flagged commercial vessel, the crew should not forcibly resist the boarding party. Refraining from forcible resistance does not imply consent or agreement to that boarding,” the guidelines read. “It is recommended that US-flagged commercial vessels transiting these…