Author: Editor

BRITAIN’s most prolific child killer of modern times on Monday began the rest of her life behind bars for murdering seven newborn babies and attempting to kill six others in her care. A judge in Manchester, northwest England, handed nurse Lucy Letby a rare whole-life order — the most severe punishment available and reserved only for those who commit the most heinous crimes — meaning she will never be released. “The order of the court is a whole-life order on each and every offence and you will spend the rest of your life in prison,” said judge James Goss. But…

EMMERSON Mnangagwa became Zimbabwe’s second president after outmanoeuvring long-time ruler Robert Mugabe with a military-backed coup in 2017 — and at 80 shows no signs of wanting to retire. Nicknamed “The Crocodile” because of his ruthlessness, Mnangagwa, who analysts judge more autocratic than his predecessor and lacking Mugabe’s intellectual flair and ideological vision, is seeking to cement his leadership in an election few expect to be free and fair. Having presided over a collapsing economy marked by hyperinflation, unemployment, and corruption allegations, critics say he has moved to silence dissent and clamp down on the opposition. “He is a very…

THE Egyptian authorities arrested then released a journalist who published articles accusing officials of involvement in smuggling cash, weapons and gold to Zambia. The allegations by Karim Asaad followed the seizure by Zambian officials of a chartered aircraft at Lusaka airport. It was said to be carrying more than $5m (£3.9m) in cash as well as pistols, ammunition and over 100kg of suspected gold. Documents – purportedly from a Zambian investigation – had allegedly named several Egyptian army and police officers as suspects. Egypt’s national press union says Mr Asaad was the 24th journalist to be detained in the country.…

IN a call to action, President Bola Tinubu has urged the recently appointed ministers to collaborate with him and each other to fulfill the aspirations of the Nigerian people through their work in government. News Point Nigeria reports that, he gave the charge during the inauguration of the 45 confirmed ministers-designate on Monday held at the Conference Centre of the State House, Abuja. “We are in this boat, even if it is a vehicle and I am the driver, the entire Nigerians are behind sitting and watching as you and I navigate this vehicle. We must hold each other responsible,…

LIONEL Messi scored a screamer and won his first trophy in North American soccer as Inter Miami beat Nashville on penalties (10-9) after their final ended 1-1 in 90 minutes. The Argentine World Cup winner had put Miami ahead in the 24th minute with a wonder strike into the top corner but Fafa Picault levelled for Nashville in the second half. After Messi hit the post and Leonardo Campana missed a last second chance to win the game in regulation for Miami, the game went to a shoot-out which ended in a duel between the two keepers and Elliot Panicco’s…

SAUDI border guards are accused of the mass killing of migrants along the Yemeni border in a new report by Human Rights Watch. The report says hundreds of people, many of them Ethiopians who cross war-torn Yemen to reach Saudi Arabia, have been shot dead. Migrants have told the BBC they had limbs severed by gunfire and saw bodies left on the trails. Saudi Arabia has previously rejected allegations of systematic killings. The Human Rights Watch (HRW) report, titled They Fired On Us Like Rain, contains graphic testimony from migrants who say they were shot at and sometimes targeted with…

ECUADORANS headed to the polls Sunday in a presidential election tarnished by the murder of a top candidate, which cast a spotlight on the violence ravaging a once-peaceful nation caught up in the illicit global drug trade. Polls opened at 7:00 am local (1200 GMT) and voting was to go on until 5:00 pm as Ecuadorans picked a successor to Guillermo Lasso, who called a snap election to avoid an impeachment trial just two years after his election. Soldiers have been deployed across the small South American country to secure the vote following a tense campaign in which the eight…

GHANAIAN TV presenter and journalist Paa Kwesi Asare has won the 2023 BBC News Komla Dumor Award. The 36-year-old is the eighth recipient of the award and the first to come from Ghana, like the late Komla Dumor. Asare is currently the head of business news at Ghana’s private TV3 channel, where he has worked for seven years as one of its main news anchors. The award was created to honour Dumor, a presenter for BBC World News, who died suddenly aged 41 in 2014. He had worked tirelessly to bring a more nuanced African narrative to the world, representing…

A FIRE at a camp for hundreds of displaced families in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has killed at least seven children. The camp houses families from Bushushu, a village on Lake Kivu that was destroyed by deadly floods and landslides in May. The blaze is said to have started in the middle of the camp before spreading, destroying hundreds of huts. Several adults are being treated for burns. The UN estimates around 3,000 families were left homeless after the floods in the Kalehe region of eastern DR Congo, an area already plagued by armed insurgencies.

SPAIN defeated European champions England 1-0 in an action-packed Women’s World Cup final at Stadium Australia in Sydney on Sunday. Captain Olga Carmona fired Spain ahead in the 29th minute, coolly finishing in the right-hand corner after a rapid counter-attack. The Lionesses, looking to become the first England senior side since the men’s team in 1966 to win the World Cup, were outplayed by a Spanish side full of flair and creativity. England’s players fell to their knees in tears at the final whistle as Spain celebrated inside their area after dealing with a final corner kick in the 14th…

NEW arrival Jude Bellingham struck twice for Real Madrid to help them come from behind to beat Almeria 3-1 in La Liga on Saturday. After netting on his debut last weekend, Bellingham again played a key role for Carlo Ancelotti’s side as they maintained their 100 per cent start to the season. Vinicius Junior added the third after being teed up by Bellingham to wrap up Los Blancos’ victory at the Power Horse Stadium on Spain’s east coast, after Sergio Arribas had sent the hosts ahead early on. Without talisman and Ballon d’Or holder Karim Benzema, who left the club…

THE mayor of an Ecuadorian city said Saturday he was the victim of an attempted assassination, a day before the country goes to the polls in general elections. Francisco Tamariz, the mayor of the coastal town of La Libertad, said he escaped unharmed from the Friday evening attack, in which gunmen fired 30 shots at his vehicle. “They tried to kill me,” Tamariz said on X, formerly known as Twitter, adding that more than eight people had witnessed the shooting. Ecuador will hold a presidential election Sunday after a campaign marked by the murder of a top candidate and vows…

TWO men who allege they were sexually abused as children by Michael Jackson can revive a lawsuit against his companies, judges at a US court ruled. Wade Robson and James Safechuck, both in their 40s, claim Jackson abused them for years while they were boys. They can now pursue previously blocked lawsuits against the singer’s companies. They say these companies had a responsibility to protect them. Lawyers for Jackson, who died in 2009, maintain his innocence. Mr Robson and Mr Safechuck claim they were abused by Jackson in the late 1980s and early 1990s while staying at his Neverland ranch.…

THE price of an AK-47 assault rifle, one of the most-recognisable weapons of war, has fallen over the last few months by 50% on the black market in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum – now costing only around $830 (£650). A long-time arms dealer attributed the sharp drop in price to the fact that the black market has become saturated with the Russian-invented Kalashnikov – colloquially known as “the Clash” – after Sudan plunged into a civil war in April. Battles between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) rage daily on the streets of Khartoum and the two other…

GAMBIA’s President Adama Barrow has suspended all foreign travel by officials, including himself, to reduce public spending, a government spokesman announced Saturday. Barrow signed an executive order “suspending all overseas travels by the president, the vice-president, cabinet ministers, senior government officials, civil servants and employees across all government institutions and agencies,” for the rest of the fiscal year, presidential spokesman Ebrima Sankareh said in a statement. Meetings where Gambian participation is compulsory and foreign trips entirely financed by external sources will be exempt. The Gambia, continental Africa’s smallest country with just over two million inhabitants, ranks 174th out of 191…

CHRIS Wood clinched Nottingham Forest’s first Premier League win this season as the New Zealand striker’s last-gasp header sealed a 2-1 win against Sheffield United on Friday. Wood netted in the 89th minute at the City Ground to ensure Forest bounced back from their 2-1 defeat at Arsenal in their season opener last weekend. Steve Cooper’s side had taken the lead early in the first half thanks to Taiwo Awoniyi’s header. Gustavo Hamer equalised before the break on his Blades debut. The midfielder arrived last week from second tier Coventry. Wood’s dramatic late contribution made it successive defeats for United…

ENGLAND captain Harry Kane scored and set up a goal on his Bundesliga debut as champions Bayern Munich recorded a thumping win at Werder Bremen. Kane swept a low right-footed effort past home goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka from 15 yards to double Bayern’s lead. He had earlier assisted the first of Leroy Sane’s two goals with a deft clip over the top inside four minutes. Mathys Tel rounded off a comfortable victory for Thomas Tuchel’s side late on. “I was a little bit nervous [and] excited to play the game of course,” Kane told broadcaster DAZN after the match. “We started…

RUSSIA has banned 54 British nationals and people working for UK organisations from entering the country in retaliation for UK sanctions on its citizens, its foreign ministry says. They include Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer and International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Karim Khan. A number of journalists from the BBC, the Daily Telegraph and the Guardian are also on the list. The BBC said it would “continue to report independently and fairly”. The Russian foreign ministry said the move was in response to “the aggressive implementation by London of a hostile anti-Russian course”. Ms Frazer was sanctioned for “actively lobbying for…

THE blocking feature will be removed for users of X, formerly Twitter, Elon Musk has announced, claiming the feature “makes no sense”. The X boss said users will still be able to block people from directly messaging them, however. But many people on social media said it will make it hard for people to remove abusive posts from their timeline. It is the latest in a series of changes Mr Musk has made since taking over the site in a $44bn deal last year. Currently, when users “block” an account, it stops that account’s posts from appearing in the blocker’s…

UNICEF on Friday sounded the alarm on child cholera in DR Congo’s troubled North-Kivu province, estimating more than 8,000 under-fives had been infected this year. The eastern province has been ravaged by conflict for almost three decades, resulting in widespread population displacement. UNICEF put at 31,342 nationwide cases contracted to date in 2023 with many children among the sufferers and North-Kivu the worst-hit province accounting for some 21,400 cases alone, the organisation said, quoting a health ministry tally. “The size of the cholera outbreak and the devastation it threatens should ring alarm bells,” said Shameza Abdulla, UNICEF DRC senior emergency…