Author: Editor

US President Biden has chosen a female admiral to lead the US Navy – the first time a woman has been nominated to head a Pentagon military service branch. Lisa Franchetti is a former head of the US 6th Fleet and US naval forces in South Korea, and has also served as an aircraft carrier strike commander. Her nomination by Mr Biden must still be confirmed by the US Senate. One lawmaker is currently blocking the Senate from confirming military leaders to protest a military abortion policy. If confirmed as Chief of Naval Operations she will be the first woman…

STAFF at an Ohio zoo received a surprise delivery when a gorilla they believed for four years to be a male gave birth. Columbus Zoo said that Sully, who has been a resident since 2019, was discovered with her baby on Thursday. Zookeepers said in a blog post that the infant “appears to be healthy” and that Sully was being a excellent mother. They added that Sully had always been in good health so had never needed examining, leading to the mix-up. The birth “was unexpected, yet exciting for the care team and important for the conservation of a critically…

KENYAN opposition leader Raila Odinga says “bad flu” has kept him from taking part in the three-day street protests that he called for over the cost of living and tax hikes. “It is not a must that opposition leaders have to be seen on the streets,” Mr Odinga told a Kenyan TV station about the protests that are due to end today. The veteran politician, who lost disputed presidential elections last year, said “game-changing” demonstrations belonged to the people and were not his alone. He denied suggestions his absence was a ploy to do a deal with President William Ruto,…

GUNMEN have attacked two villages in Niger Republic’s vast Tillaberi border region, killing a dozen people working in the fields, security and local sources told AFP on Friday. “There were 12 deaths following the attack on Thursday afternoon by armed men,” a municipal official in Anzourou district said. All the dead were male and from the villages of Doukou Saraou and Doukou Makani, which lie barely a kilometre (half a mile) apart, the official said. A security source confirmed the attacks but did not give a death toll. The unstable and arid Tillaberi region lies in the tri-border zone where…

CHRISTINE Sinclair missed out on becoming the first player to score at six Fifa World Cups as Canada were held by Nigeria. Nigeria keeper Chiamaka Nnadozie kept out Sinclair’s spot-kick early in the second half as the Olympic champions were frustrated in Melbourne. Deborah Abiodun was sent off late on for Nigeria, however they earned a point with a battling display. Canada and Nigeria have one point in Group B, behind co-hosts Australia. The Canadians face Republic of Ireland in their next game on 26 July, after the Irish were beaten by Australia on Thursday.

JORDI Alba has joined former Barcelona team-mates Lionel Messi and Sergio Busquets at Inter Miami. The Spain full-back, 34, has signed a contract to the end of the 2024 Major League Soccer season, with a club option for 2025. Alba left Barca this summer after 11 years with the Spanish giants. “We know that he’ll help Inter Miami achieve the club’s objectives this season and beyond,” said Inter Miami’s sporting director Chris Henderson. Alba helped Barca win six La Liga titles and the Champions League in 2015 while winning Euro 2012 and the 2023 Nations League with Spain. Argentina World…

THE White House has confirmed that Ukraine is using US cluster bombs against Russian forces in the country. National Security Spokesman John Kirby said initial feedback suggested they were being used “effectively” on Russian defensive positions and operations. Cluster bombs scatter multiple bomblets and are banned by more than 100 states due to their threat to civilians. The US agreed to supply them to boost Ukrainian ammunition supplies. Ukraine has promised the bombs will only be used to dislodge concentrations of Russian enemy soldiers. “They are using them appropriately,” Mr Kirby said. “They’re using them effectively and they are actually…

AT least 10 people were killed after a landslide triggered by heavy rains smashed into their village in India’s Maharashtra state with dozens more feared trapped, officials said Thursday. Rescue teams were battling lashing rain in the remote, hilly and forested Raigad district, with people scrambling at mounds of earth and rubble. Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister, said 10 people had died in the landslide, which overwhelmed the village overnight. “More than 200 people reside there, we have rescued about 70 people so far — out of those, 21 are injured,” Fadnavis said on Thursday morning. Police officer Harish…

A BODY was found in central Johannesburg early Thursday after an unexplained blast ripped through a busy street at rush hour the previous evening, the emergency services said. The explosion blew a hole in the road and gouged out cracks, skittling pedestrians and cars. “(In the) early hours of this morning, we managed to recover a body of a male person on site where the explosion occurred,” Emergency Management Services spokesman Robert Mulaudzi said. Panyaza Lesufi, the premier of Johannesburg’s Gauteng province, told a media briefing that 48 people were injured. Witnesses reported chemical odours and escaping vapours after the…

A MILLION more people could be facing hunger in Burkina Faso in the next few months as the lack of security in parts of the country continues to have an impact, the NGO International Rescue Committee (IRC) has warned. Currently an estimated 2.2 million people – one in 10 of the population – are experiencing hunger, but the IRC says that that figure could reach 3.3 million by September. As a result of a militant Islamist insurgency parts of the country are almost entirely cut off – food supplies rarely get through and health facilities are closing. The IRC has…

IF Bayern Munich’s first game of pre-season is anything to go by they might not need Tottenham striker Harry Kane – having beaten Rottach-Egern 27-0. Thirteen players got on the score sheet, with Jamal Musiala, Mathys Tel and Marcel Sabitzer grabbing five each. Sabitzer, who was on loan at Manchester United last season, scored his five goals in 22 second-half minutes. It was 18-0 at half-time before amateur side Rottach-Egern limited Bayern to nine goals after the break. Serge Gnabry, with a hat-trick, Alphonso Davies, Konrad Laimer, Noussair Mazraoui, Dayot Upamecano, Leroy Sane, Raphael Guerreiro, Ryan Gravenberch, Kingsley Coman and…

BRAZIL said Tuesday it will change civil servants’ work schedules so they can watch the national team play in the women’s World Cup — a concession until now reserved for the men’s top-flight football tournament. The employees can start their work days later so as to take in the tournament starting Thursday in Australia and New Zealand. “It is a measure of equity to give civil servants wishing to watch the matches the same rights as during the men’s World Cup,” the minister for management and innovation, Esther Dweck, said in a statement. As the tournament gets under way on…

POLICE in Nevada have confirmed they served a search warrant this week in connection with the unsolved killing of rapper Tupac Shakur. Detectives carried out the search at a home in Henderson, a suburb of Las Vegas where Shakur was gunned down in September 1996. Las Vegas Metropolitan police did not provide further details of the search, citing the ongoing investigation into his murder. Shakur was 25 when he was killed. No arrests have been made and no suspects are currently in custody. The home that was searched is less than 20 miles (32km) from the Las Vegas strip where…

NORTH Korea is reported to have detained a serving US army soldier who crossed the heavily fortified border from South Korea without permission. The man was on an organised tour of the UN-run zone dividing the two countries. The crisis comes during a particularly tense time with the North, one of the world’s most isolated states. The US tells its citizens not to go there. A senior US commander said there had been no contact with the soldier. Admiral John Aquilino Commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command said he was “not tracking” contact with North Korea. He said the soldier…

ETHIOPIA is allowing people to access Facebook, Telegram, TikTok and YouTube for the first time in more than five months. The blackout was imposed on 9 February this year after tensions between the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the government. Only those with access to virtual private network (VPN) software could get on to the social media platforms – something that cost them additional data. The Orthodox Church faced a split in February when some archbishops from the Oromia region said they wanted to form a new synod as they wanted to hold services on the Oromo language. The move triggered…

THE beheading of two people by suspected militants is causing alarm in northern Mozambique as such atrocities have become less common in recent years. This is partly because regional troops were deployed two years ago to help the army recapture territory from the militants in the northern region of Cabo Delgado. While this has allowed some people to return to their villages, it has also encouraged retreating insurgents to win over villagers from whom they buy food. Of late they have been saying their fight is with the defence forces, not locals. But the decapitated bodies of two fishermen were…

TWO members of the House of Representatives have defended the National Assembly in the wake of the controversy trailing its N70 billion allocation in the 2022 Supplementary Appropriation Act. The funds will cover renovations in the new chambers, according to the member for Obanliku/Obudu/Bekwara Federal Constituency in Cross River State, Peter Akpanke, and his counterpart representing Igbo-Eze North/Udenu Federal Constituency in Enugu State, Dennis Agbo. “There is a lot of work to be done, if you go to the National Assembly, what is being renovated at the moment is the main chambers and we are using the temporary chambers,” Akpanke…

ITALIAN champions, Napoli, have offered Victor Osimhen a new two-year contract extension with a salary worth N6.5bn — €6.5m plus €1m in bonuses. Osimhen, who has two years left on his contract at Napoli, had demanded a salary of €7m annually to extend his current deal with the Italian champions, who are keen to tie him down to a new deal amidst interests from some of Europe’s top clubs. The new proposed deal, it was gathered, will include a release clause worth £170m for the Nigerian striker. The 24-year-old steered the Partenopei to their first title in 33 years scoring…

NEW signing Lionel Messi has been officially presented to cheering crowds at Inter Miami’s DRV PNK Stadium. A sold-out crowd of about 20,000 waited through downpours and lightning to see the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner given a number 10 shirt. In a brief address in Spanish, Messi, 36, thanked supporters and said he had the “same desire” he always has. The World Cup-winning Argentina forward joins the Major League Soccer (MLS) club on a deal until the end of 2025. He will be reunited with defensive midfielder Sergio Busquets – with whom he played at Barcelona – who has also…

MILLIONS of US military emails have been mistakenly sent to Mali, a Russian ally, because of a minor typing error. Emails intended for the US military’s “.mil” domain have, for years, been sent to the west African country which ends with the “.ml” suffix. Some of the emails reportedly contained sensitive information such as passwords, medical records and the itineraries of top officers. The Pentagon said it had taken steps to address the issue. According to the Financial Times, which first reported the story, Dutch internet entrepreneur Johannes Zuurbier identified the problem more than 10 years ago. Since 2013, he…