Author: Editor

THE UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) says it is suspending some food aid to Ethiopia while it addresses worries that donations are being diverted from those in need. It will continue to help the most vulnerable, such as children and new mothers, and welcomed what it called the Ethiopian government’s commitment to investigate. The United States – the biggest donor to Ethiopia – also suspended aid a day ago, saying it had uncovered a campaign to divert assistance. It did not say who was behind it. Donors have heard allegations that Ethiopian government entities were the orchestrators, and military units…

SUSPECTED militants have killed at least 27 people in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Local reports say they used axes and machetes to attack civilians in their homes in Bukokoma village, Nord Kivu province, on Thursday evening. The attackers are thought to be from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a militia linked to the Islamic State group. Eastern DR Congo is a hotbed for rival militia who’ve been blamed for attacks that have killed thousands of people. A similar attack last week in Beni territory left at least nine dead.

I’M getting ahead of myself. Father’s Day is still next Sunday. But after the Executive Editor of LeVogue, LEADERSHIP’s Fashion and Lifestyle magazine, Nikki Odu-Khiran, asked me if I could write a piece to mark the day, it got me thinking. If my father, who passed on May 28, 2000, ever had to write on Father’s Day, what would he have written? Of course, he wouldn’t have written anything. A pensioner who worked as a storekeeper at the Apapa (Lagos) Quays of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) before he retired in 1996, Robert could barely write. But my, oh, my,…

SHEIKH Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani made a fifth bid to buy Manchester United earlier this week, according to a source close to the Qatari banker. This will be Sheikh Jassim’s final bid, and after Friday he will no longer engage with the process. The bid is for 100% of the club, will clear United’s debt and has a separate fund for the club and local community. Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos Group are the other main party trying to buy the Premier League club. Figures in March showed United owed £969.6m through a combination of gross debt, bank borrowings and…

WORLD Cup-winning France midfielder N’Golo Kante’s planned move to Saudi side Al-Ittihad is being stalled by medical issues, a club source told AFP on Thursday. Kante, 32, has a history of injuries and missed six months of Chelsea’s Premier League season with a hamstring problem. The Al-Ittihad source said Kante had signed a binding agreement but the club were examining the results of medical tests before agreeing a final deal. On Tuesday, the Jeddah-based club officially unveiled 35-year-old French Ballon d’Or-winner Karim Benzema as the biggest signing in their history. “Kante signed a binding agreement, not a final contract,” the…

FOUR young children who were stabbed in a park in Annecy, in France’s south-east, are now in a stable condition, officials have told the BBC. The children, aged between one and three, are being treated in hospital. Police overpowered and arrested the knifeman after he entered a children’s playground to carry out the attack. A three-year-old British child is among the injured, another is Dutch. Two adults were also hurt, with one in a critical condition. Police have confirmed that the suspect is a 31-year-old Syrian, who had refugee status in Sweden. Regional deputy Antoine Armand described the attack as…

FORMER US President Donald Trump has been charged over his handling of classified documents after he left the White House. Mr Trump, 76, faces seven charges including unauthorised retention of classified files, US media reported. The charges are not yet public. It is the second indictment of Mr Trump and the first ever federal indictment of a former president. He is campaigning to make a return to the White House in 2024. Legal experts say the indictment will not limit Mr Trump’s ability to run for the presidency again. In a post on Truth Social on Thursday, Mr Trump said…

NEARLY 300 orphans caught in the crossfire in Sudan’s capital have been rescued in a daring and dangerous evacuation by humanitarian workers. The evacuations were carried out following the deaths of 67 children at the Mygoma orphanage in Khartoum. They died of starvation, dehydration and infections as fighting prevented staff from reaching the orphanage. Khartoum has been hit by daily air strikes and heavy clashes between rival forces since 15 April. The orphanage is in an area that has been at the heart of the fighting between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). In a risky operation,…

UGANDA’s President Yoweri Museveni has said he has contracted Covid-19 after one of three tests conducted on him turned out positive. Mr Museveni, who gave a state of the nation address earlier on Wednesday, said he had developed a slight cold, prompting him to get tested. The permanent secretary at the health ministry, Diana Atwine, said the president had developed mild flu-like symptoms but was in good health and would continue his duties. She said the president would adhere to standard operating procedures for Covid cases while performing his role. Uganda had some of the strictest measures in Africa to…

JARROD Bowen’s dramatic 90th-minute goal secured West Ham their first major European trophy since 1965 with a 2-1 win over Fiorentina in the Europa Conference League final on Wednesday. It is the second European trophy for West Ham after they won the now defunct Cup Winners’ Cup 58 years ago with a team including England World Cup heroes Bobby Moore and Geoff Hurst. Bowen picked up a superb through ball from Lucas Paqueta, before sending a low shot past a helpless Pietro Terracciano in the Fiorentina goal. “I obviously dreamed of scoring but to score the winner in the last…

ARGENTINA legend Lionel Messi will join American side Inter Miami after his exit from French champions Paris St-Germain. Messi, 35, had a more lucrative offer from Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal while a return to Barcelona became an impossibility because of Financial Fair Play (FFP) limitations. “I’ve taken the decision that I am going to Miami,” Messi told newspapers Diario Sport and Mundo Deportivo. “[I decided] to leave Europe.” He added: “It’s true that I had offers from another European team but I didn’t even think about it because in Europe, my idea was only to go to Barcelona. “After winning…

THOUSANDS fled their homes Wednesday after the destruction of a Russian-held dam in Ukraine flooded dozens of villages and parts of a nearby city, sparking fears of a humanitarian disaster. Ukraine and Russia have traded blame for the Kakhovka dam being ripped open on Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin calling the destruction a “barbaric act”, in his first public reaction. The breach of the dam in southern Ukraine, which provides cooling water for Europe’s largest nuclear plant, took place as Ukrainian troops prepared to launch the offensive to recover lost territory. Downstream from the breached Kakhovka dam, police and troops in…

SLAIN rap legend Tupac Shakur was honored with a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame on Wednesday, almost three decades after the best-selling artist was gunned down in a drive-by shooting. The ceremony paid tribute to a rapper who died at age 25 after a brief but spectacular career, in which he went from backup dancer to self-styled gangsta and one of the most influential figures in hip-hop. “It fills my heart with honor to stand here today representing the Shakur family,” said Shakur’s sister Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur at the unveiling in Los Angeles. “Tupac knew deep down that he…

AN 88-YEAR-OLD man accused of being a major financier of the 1994 Rwandan genocide is unfit to stand trial, a UN war crimes court has ruled. Félicien Kabuga had “severe dementia”, according to medical experts. He was arrested in Paris in 2020 after evading capture for 26 years. Said to have been Rwandan’s richest man at the time, he is alleged to have financed ethnic Hutu militias who slaughtered about 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. He denies the charges. The head of Rwandan genocide survivors’ association Ibuka told BBC Great Lakes he was “saddened” by the judges’ decision. “As survivors,…

SENEGAL has temporarily closed its consulates abroad following attacks on diplomatic missions in Bordeaux, Milan, Paris and New York among others. The foreign affairs ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that the precautionary measure followed “a series of aggressions that caused serious damage”. It said the consulate in Milan had been particularly hard hit, with passport-making machines and identity cards damaged. The closures come amid political tensions in Senegal following the sentencing of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko last week to two years in prison which led to deadly protests. Italian media reported on Monday that about 40 Sonko supporters…

ONE of the surviving sons of the former Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, has gone on hunger strike to protest against his prolonged detention in Lebanon, says his lawyer Paul Romanos. Hannibal Gaddafi has been held in Lebanon for more than eight years after being abducted by Lebanese militants from Syria, where he had taken refuge after the downfall and death of his father, he adds. Hannibal Gaddafi was subsequently taken by the Lebanese authorities and has been detained ever since in a jail in Beirut without trial, Mr Romanos says.

TEN people from the Democratic Republic of Congo have been killed in an army attack on a university campus in Sudan, the Congolese government says. They died in bombardments on Sunday afternoon at Khartoum’s International University of Africa, it said. “What hurts us very much is that it was the regular army that dropped the bombs knowing there were foreigners there,” the Congolese foreign minister said. Rival military forces have been battling in Sudan’s capital for weeks. Paramilitary fighters of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have bases in many residential areas across the city, which tend to be attacked by…

APPLE on Monday unveiled its first mixed reality headset, challenging Facebook-owner Meta in a market that has yet to tempt users beyond videogamers and tech geeks. The release was the most significant product launch by the iPhone maker since it unveiled the Apple Watch in 2015. The Vision Pro, which was generally well received on Monday, will cost a hefty $3,499 and be available early next year in the United States only, the company said. “There are certain products that shift the way we look at technology and the role it plays in our lives,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook…

PRINCE Harry on Tuesday testified he had suffered lifelong “press invasion” and that some media had blood on their hands, as he became the first British royal in more than 100 years to give evidence in court. The younger son of King Charles III accuses Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) — publisher of The Mirror, Sunday Mirror and the Sunday People tabloids — of illegal information gathering, including phone hacking. In a much-anticipated appearance in the witness box at London’s High Court, Harry said he had been the victim of relentless and distressing media intrusion “most of my life up until…

MANCHESTER City striker Erling Haaland is the world’s most expensive player and valued at 245.1m euros (£211.2m), a new study says. Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr and Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka are ranked second and third respectively in the CIES Football Observatory’s latest report. Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham came in at number four. Benfica defender Antonio Silva is the highest ranked player outside of Europe’s big five leagues. The CIES Football Observatory utilised a wide variety of measures to create a scientific model, estimating the top 100 most expensive players. The study took into account over 2,000 transactions of players…