Author: Editor

UGANDANS under the age of 40 – and that is more than three-quarters of the population – have only known one president. Yoweri Museveni seized the top job in 1986 following an armed uprising and at the age of 81, he shows no signs of budging. His time at the helm has been accompanied by a long period of peace and significant development, for which many are grateful. But his critics say he has maintained his grip on power through a mixture of sidelining opponents and compromising independent institutions. “We don’t believe in [presidential] term limits,” he once told the…

SHE was seen as a “miracle baby” after being born in a tree which her mother had climbed to escape flooding, but nearly 26 years on Mozambican Rosita Salvador Mabuiango has died after a long illness, her sister told the BBC. The sight of the newborn and her mother being winched to safety by helicopter amid the deluged landscape became one of the defining images of the Mozambique floods of 2000 – the country’s worst ever. Reflecting on Rosita’s life, President Daniel Chapo described her as a symbol for girls in the country. In February 2000, hundreds died and hundreds…

NIGERIA secured a well-deserved 2-0 victory over Algeria in their Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) quarterfinal, with second-half goals from Victor Osimhen and Akor Adams, setting up a semi-final clash against hosts Morocco. News Point Nigeria Sports reports that the Super Eagles delivered an impressive performance, especially considering they had missed out on World Cup qualification just two months prior. From the beginning of the match at the Grand Stade de Marrakesh, they overwhelmed their opponents with determination, speed, and strength in challenges. Remarkably, they denied their rivals any scoring opportunities throughout the game. Eric Chelle’s men will now look…

BARCELONA edged past Real Madrid in a five-goal thriller to win back-to-back Spanish Super Cup finals in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It marked a 16th triumph in the tournament for Hansi Flick’s side, with Barcelona also beating Los Blancos in last year’s final. Brazilian forward Raphinha’s floated shot in the 73rd minute proved to be the winner after a frantic ending to the first half. Three quick-fire goals in first-half stoppage time put the two on level terms at the break after Raphinha had opened the scoring, drilling into the bottom corner in the 36th minute. Vinicius Jr equalised two minutes…

IN the bitter cold of a Gaza winter, two-month-old Mohammed Abu Harbid has become the latest victim of Israel’s genocidal war that has stripped Palestinians of shelter, warmth and survival. Zaher al-Wahidi, director of health information at the Ministry of Health, told Al Jazeera the infant died from severe hypothermia at al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital. His death brings the number of children who have frozen to death in the enclave since November 2025 to four, and 12 since the start of the genocidal war in October 2023. As severe depression brings torrential rain and freezing winds to the coastal enclave, thousands…

US President Donald Trump urged Cuba on Sunday to “make a deal” or face unspecified consequences, warning that the flow of Venezuelan oil and money to Havana would now stop. The communist-run island near Florida has been a US foe and ally of Caracas for decades, but Trump has ramped up his threatening language in recent days particularly after Washington toppled Venezuela’s leftist leader, Nicolas Maduro. “THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO!” Trump said on his Truth Social platform. “I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” Trump provided…

SUDAN’s Prime Minister Kamil Idris has announced the government’s return to Khartoum, after nearly three years of operating from its wartime capital of Port Sudan. In the early days of the civil war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April 2023, the army-aligned government fled the capital, which was quickly overrun by rival troops. The government has pursued a gradual return to Khartoum since the army recaptured the city last March. “Today, we return, and the Government of Hope returns to the national capital,” Idris told reporters on Sunday in Khartoum, which…

HUSBAND and wife movie stars Meagan Good and Jonathan Majors have travelled to Guinea, where they have been granted citizenship after tracing their ancestry to the West African nation through DNA testing. Majors, a star of Creed and Ant-Man, said becoming citizens would allow the couple to “bridg[e] the gap” and bring together their stories as entertainers and members of the African diaspora. “We just want to say thank you so much,” added Good, best known for the film Think Like a Man, who said it was her first visit to Guinea. Their citizenship ceremony was similar to other initiatives…

ISRAELI forces carried out airstrikes and artillery shelling across several areas of the Gaza Strip early Saturday, in the latest violations of a ceasefire agreement that has been in place since October 2025. Local sources told Anadolu that Israeli artillery targeted eastern parts of Gaza City, areas that fall under Israeli control, according to the ceasefire arrangement. An Israeli fighter jet also struck a location in the northern Gaza Strip, while a military helicopter opened fire toward eastern areas of the Jabalia town, the sources said. In southern Gaza, Israeli warplanes launched an airstrike on the city of Rafah, as…

PROTESTS against US President Donald Trump’s militarised anti-immigration push are sweeping the United States, after the killing of a Minneapolis woman by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent sparked outrage this week. Indivisible, a social movement group, said hundreds of demonstrations were scheduled in Texas, Kansas, New Mexico, Ohio, Florida and other US states on Saturday. “ICE’s violence is not a statistic, it has names, families, and futures attached to it, and we refuse to look away or stay silent,” Leah Greenberg, Indivisible’s co-executive director, said in a statement. Steven Eubanks, 51, said he felt compelled to attend a…

MILLIONS of people in Sudan are in urgent need of humanitarian help, aid organisations have warned, as the war in the east African state marked its 1,000th day. Fierce fighting and global funding cuts have pushed more than 33 million people towards starvation in what has become one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises, nongovernmental organisations said on Friday as the grim anniversary passed. Warning that Sudan’s hunger crisis is reaching unprecedented levels, the groups called on global governments to raise efforts to end the war between the country’s military rulers and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which began…

SOUTH Africa has defended weeklong naval drills with Russia, Iran, China and other countries as “essential”, describing the manoeuvres off its coast as a vital response to rising maritime tensions globally. The “Will for Peace 2026” exercises that began on Saturday off the coast of Cape Town come just days after the United States seized a Venezuela-linked Russian oil tanker in the North Atlantic, saying it had violated Western sanctions. The seizure, part of a continued US pressure campaign against Venezuela, followed US attacks on the South American country and the abduction of its president, Nicolas Maduro. The naval exercises…

FOR Hani Naim, the wait is not for a cure, but for permission to save his own life. Living with cancer for six years, Naim had been approved for treatment abroad. But like thousands of others, he remains trapped in Gaza, barred from leaving by tightening Israeli restrictions. “I used to receive treatment in the West Bank and Jerusalem,” Naim told Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum. “Today, I cannot access any treatment at all. I need radiotherapy, and it no longer exists in Gaza.” Naim is one of 11,000 cancer patients currently stranded in the enclave, where the healthcare system…

UNITED States President Donald Trump has dismissed international law, saying only his “own morality” can curb the aggressive policies he is pursuing across the world after the abduction of Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro. “I don’t need international law. I’m not looking to hurt people,” Trump told The New York Times on Thursday. Asked whether he needs to abide by international law, Trump said he does, but it “depends what your definition of international law is”. Trump has shown a willingness to use the brute force of the US military to achieve his foreign policy goals. On Saturday, the US launched an…

ONE month after an attempted coup shook Benin, the west African country will hold parliamentary and local elections Sunday, set to define the political landscape ahead of presidential polls in April. President Patrice Talon’s ruling coalition is expected to strengthen its already powerful hand in the ballots, with the main opposition Democrats party barred from the local polls — and from April’s presidential race — for failing to gather enough signatures to register. The Democrats will be running in parliamentary races Sunday, but risk ceding more ground to Talon’s three-party bloc, which currently holds 81 of the 109 seats in…

CHINESE, Russian and Iranian warships have arrived in South African waters for a week of naval drills as geopolitical tensions run high over the United States’s military intervention in Venezuela and its seizures of several oil tankers. China’s defence ministry said in a statement on Friday that the exercises, set to kick off with an opening ceremony on Saturday, are “joint operations to safeguard vital shipping lanes and economic activities”. Strikes on maritime targets and “counter-terrorism” rescues will be part of the drills, it said. Chinese, Russian and Iranian ships were seen moving into and out of the harbour that…

FEDERICO Valverde scored a stunning early free-kick as Real Madrid beat Atletico Madrid to set up a Clasico meeting with Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup final. Rodrygo doubled Real’s lead in the 55th minute before Alexander Sorloth pulled a goal back for Atletico, but it was the 13-time Super Cup winners who prevailed to reach Sunday’s final (19:00 GMT). Thursday’s semi-final in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, was only 77 seconds old when Los Blancos captain Valverde sent a 30-yard free-kick fizzing past Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak into the top corner. Rodrygo doubled Real’s lead 10 minutes into the second half…

AN Israeli attack on a tent in southern Gaza has killed at least three Palestinians and wounded three others, local rescuers say, as Israel continues to bomb the coastal enclave despite an October ceasefire. The Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza said on Thursday that its teams recovered the bodies of three slain residents after the Israeli military bombed a family’s tent in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis. Three others were wounded, including one person who suffered critical injuries, the agency said in a post on Telegram. Separately, Israeli fire killed an 11-year-old Palestinian girl named Hamsa Housou in northern…

FRENCH President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that the United States was “breaking free from international rules” and “gradually turning away” from some of its allies. Macron delivered his annual speech to French ambassadors at the Elysee Palace as European powers are scrambling to come up with a coordinated response to assertive US foreign policy in the Western Hemisphere following Washington’s capture of Venezuela’s leader Nicolas Maduro and Donald Trump’s designs on Greenland. “The United States is an established power, but one that is gradually turning away from some of its allies and breaking free from international rules that it…

GHANA’s former finance minister, who is wanted at home on suspicion of corruption, has been detained by US immigration, his lawyers said. Ken Ofori-Atta, 66, has been in the United States since January last year to receive medical treatment including prostate cancer surgery. The former minister, who was declared a fugitive last February and was formally charged with corruption in November, has applied to extend his stay in the US, his lawyers said late Wednesday. They said the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took Ofori-Atta into custody on Tuesday over “the status of his current stay in the United…