THE Islamic State group mastermind thought to have planned the devastating 2021 bombing at Kabul airport has been killed by Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban, US officials say. The bombing that August killed 170 civilians and 13 US soldiers as people were trying to flee the country as the Taliban took control. The IS figure was killed weeks ago but it took time to confirm his death, US officials told BBC news partner CBS His name has not been released. US officials said they had determined through intelligence gathering and monitoring of the region that the leader had died, though they did…
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SINGAPORE has executed a man for conspiring to traffic cannabis despite pleas for clemency from his family, activists and the United Nations. Tangaraju Suppiah, 46, was hanged at dawn on Wednesday over a plot to smuggle 1kg (35oz) of cannabis. Activists said he had been convicted on weak evidence and received limited legal access during his prosecution. But Singapore authorities said he had been given a fair trial and criticised those who questioned the courts. Singapore has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws. It argues these are a necessary deterrent to drug crime which is a major issue elsewhere…
EVERYONE finds selling on the streets the easiest way to survive, but you have to be creative.” Noel Ngwenya, 44, from Chivi District of Masvingo Province spends his working days in downtown Bulawayo, the country’s second largest city, with a loudhailer advertising a unique service. He collects torn or soiled foreign currency notes that have been rejected by supermarkets and other traders – mostly US dollars or South African rand, which are both legal tender in Zimbabwe. Mr Ngwenya pays his clients 50% of the value of whichever note they bring – so they get $1 for a torn $2…
A SECOND evacuation flight rescuing UK nationals from war-torn Sudan has landed in Cyprus. The passengers and a further 39 from an earlier rescue flight on Tuesday are expected to be given the chance to fly to the UK from Larnaca Airport later. British troops are attempting to get UK nationals out of the east African country during a 72-hour ceasefire. The BBC was told 39 people were flown out on the first RAF plane – and three rescue flights are planned in total. Trapped British nationals had been told to make their own way to an airstrip near Sudanese…
A NEW group aiming to represent the interests of European football clubs outside the global elite launched in Brussels on Monday, seeking greater distribution of funds to smaller clubs and open and more balanced European competition. The Union of European Clubs (UEC) said some 1,400 professional clubs were not taking part in European competitions and had no voice in decisions taken by governing body UEFA that still had a bearing on them. Representatives of 40 clubs from 25 countries attended, including England’s Aston Villa and Brighton and Hove Albion, Spain’s Sevilla and Valencia and Germany’s Borussia Moenchengladbach. The UEC will…
INTERIM manager Cristian Stellini has been sacked by Tottenham Hotspur after four matches in charge. The decision comes a day after Spurs were thrashed 6-1 at Newcastle – a performance chairman Daniel Levy has described as “wholly unacceptable”. Stellini, 48, was appointed on 26 March after Antonio Conte’s 16-month spell as Spurs boss came to an end. Ryan Mason, who worked under Stellini and took charge when Jose Mourinho was sacked in 2021, succeeds him. Sunday’s defeat at Newcastle, where they trailed 5-0 after 21 minutes, was a significant blow to Spurs’ hopes of securing Champions League qualification. “It was…
MORE than 20 people are feared to have drowned off Italy, the UN’s refugee agency said Monday, as good weather prompted fresh attempts at the perilous Mediterranean crossing. “Two shipwrecks off Lampedusa with 22 missing. Condolences to those who have lost family members at sea,” Chiara Cardoletti, the UNHCR’s representative for Italy, said on Twitter. “Action is needed to stabilise the situation in countries of origin and transit, reducing the reasons that drive so many people to risk their lives at sea,” she said. The 36 survivors of the first shipwreck told the Italian coastguard that 19 people on board…
STREAMING giant Netflix says it will invest $2.5bn (£2bn) in South Korea over the next four years. The firm’s co-chief executive Ted Sarandos made the announcement after he met South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol in Washington. Mr Yoon is currently on a state visit to the US where he is expected to meet President Joe Biden on Wednesday. Netflix has seen success with South Korean productions, including the hugely popular show Squid Game. Mr Sarandos said the money will be spent on making movies and television shows in Asia’s fourth largest economy. “We were able to make this decision because…
ETHOPIAN Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Sunday said his government had opened talks with Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), a rebel group active in the Oromia region, the country’s largest and most populous region. “A negotiation with Oneg Shene will start a day after tomorrow in Tanzania,” Mr Abiy said, using another name for the OLA. He said the “Ethiopian government and people are in deep need of this negotiation process,” adding, “I call upon all groups to play (their) part.” Mr Abiy said this in a speech to celebrate the peace deal his government signed with the Tigray People’s Liberation…
IN the middle of a forest not far from Kenya’s coast, piles of fresh earth topped with crucifixes await the attention of forensic experts. About 14 mass graves have so far been dug up and Hussein Khalid has spent the past four days watching people exhume dozens of bodies. “The stench is unbearable,” he tells the BBC. The dead – now numbering more than 70 – are thought to have been members of the Good News International Church. It is believed they were persuaded to starve themselves in order to reach heaven before what they were told was going to…
THE United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Sudan’s warring generals had agreed to a three-day ceasefire starting Tuesday (2200 GMT Monday), after previous bids to pause the conflict quickly disintegrated. “Following intense negotiation over the past 48 hours, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have agreed to implement a nationwide ceasefire starting at midnight on April 24, to last for 72 hours,” Blinken said in a statement two hours before the truce was to go into effect. “During this period, the United States urges the SAF and RSF to immediately and fully…
A CIVIL society group, Social Integrity Network, (SINET), has asked Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, to set up a committee to quickly look at the ongoing plan to concession Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited and Itakpe Iron Ore Company. In a communique after an emergency meeting in Jos, Plateau State, yesterday, SINET urged the senate president to ensure that the process is halted, reversed and handed over to the incoming administration for proper scrutiny and consideration for national interest. The communique was signed SINET’s National Coordinator, Ibrahim Issah. The group said its action was predicated on some newspaper advertorials calling for bids…
PRESIDENT-ELECT Bola Ahmed Tinubu has sent a message of sympathy and condolences to the family of Hajiya Hawau Odee, who died on Sunday. The late businesswoman and community leader, who died at 89, was the mother of a veteran journalist, the Managing Editor (Northern Operations) of The Nation newspaper, Alhaji Yusuf Alli. Alli is also President of the Rotary Club of Abuja Maitama. In a condolence message released by his office on Monday, the President-elect described the death of Hajiya Hawau Odee as painful not only to her immediate family but to all who encountered her and felt her warmth…
MANCHESTER United set up a first FA Cup final against Manchester City after beating Brighton in a tense penalty shootout at a rain-lashed Wembley Stadium. In a match that finished goalless after extra time it fell to United defender Victor Lindelof to score the decisive spot-kick after Solly March sent his effort high over the bar. The result means Erik ten Hag’s side have reached their second domestic final of the season, having won the Carabao Cup in February. In a scrappy semi-final that fell short of expectations, both goalkeepers excelled with David de Gea making several fine saves and…
VINCENT Kompany has been been named Championship manager of the season after guiding Burnley to promotion to the Premier League. The 37-year-old Belgian guided the Clarets to an immediate top-flight return in his first season in charge. Middlesbrough’s Chuba Akpom won the Championship player of the season award after scoring a division-high 28 goals. Bristol Rovers’ Aaron Collins won the League One award and Northampton’s Sam Hoskins the accolade for League Two. Collins, with 16 goals and 11 assists the only player in the division to hit double figures in both categories, collected the award despite being in a Rovers…
FOREIGN Secretary James Cleverly has warned that UK help for Britons stuck in Sudan will remain “severely limited” until a ceasefire is reached. British diplomats and their families had been evacuated from Sudan in a “complex and rapid” operation. However, some Britons still in the country said they feel abandoned by the UK government. Violence in Sudan between two opposing forces has seen deadly shooting and shelling in the capital, Khartoum. Mr Cleverly said there were “specific threats and violence directed towards diplomats” which led to the decision to evacuate staff. He said the UK government remained “absolutely committed to…
AUSTRALIA will speed up efforts to buy longer range missiles to counter the growing threat from China, a major defence review says. It warns the country can no longer be protected by its geographic isolation in the “missile age”. The government will spend some A$19 billion ($12bn, £10bn) to deliver the immediate recommendations. The 110-page report is described as the biggest overhaul of Australian defence since World War Two. The Defence Strategic Review comes amid increasing military tension in the region over China’s stance towards Taiwan, which it has repeatedly vowed to take by force if necessary. The Chinese navy…
BURUNDI’s justice ministry has confirmed that the country’s former prime minister, Alain Guillaume Bunyoni, is in police custody following reports of his arrest on Friday. Burundi’s General Prosecutor Sylvestre Nyandwi did not say what charges Mr Bunyoni was facing or where he was being detained. The arrest comes seven months after he was sacked following a warning by President Evariste Ndayishimiye that unnamed people were plotting a coup. The human rights commission said it visited Mr Bunyoni on Saturday to check on his wellbeing. Mr Bunyoni was prime minister for two years until 2022.
KENYAN police said Sunday they had found the bodies of another 26 suspected cult members in the east of the country, bringing to 47 the number of corpses linked to the movement. Search teams wearing white overalls and equipped with masks were continuing to dig at the site in search of other bodies, an AFP photographer near the coastal town of Malindi saw. A number of bodies had already been wrapped in white plastic sheeting. “Today we have exhumed 26 more bodies and this brings the total number of bodies from that place to 47,” said the head of criminal…
THE Kano State Fire Service on Sunday confirmed the death of five people while six others survived a boat mishap at the Kanwa Dam in the Madobi Local Government Area of the state. The service Public Relations Officer, Alhaji Saminu Abdullahi, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in a telephone conversation that one Umar Faruk-Dalada, reported the incident, situation reports and where it occurred. He said the incident occurred on April 22, at 05:40 p.m. “There were 11 persons on the boat, six were rescued alive, while five were rescued in an unconscious state. Names of those that lost…