ISRAEL’s aggressions around the Middle East haven’t ceased with the recent ceasefire agreement in Gaza. The pact, established on October 10, has eased the pressure on Palestinians in Gaza, even if Israeli strikes there continue. And in other parts of the region, Israel is still attacking on multiple fronts. Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank have all witnessed Israeli strikes in the last week, giving credence to the idea that Israel is trying to keep its neighbours destabilised and weak. United States officials visited Israel this week, but Tel Aviv’s biggest backer didn’t seem to indicate it was ready to…
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PRIME Minister Inga Ruginiene has said Lithuania has started shooting down smuggler balloons crossing from Belarus and also shut its border crossings with the neighbouring country following repeated interruptions to its air traffic. “Today we have decided to take the strictest measures, there is no other way,” Ruginiene told a news conference on Monday, saying the crossings will be closed except for travel by diplomats and by European Union citizens leaving Belarus. NATO and European Union member Lithuania closed Vilnius Airport four times last week after balloons entered its airspace. Each time, it temporarily shut its Belarus border crossings in…
IVORY Coast’s President Alassane Ouattara has won a fourth term, securing a crushing 89.77 percent in a vote which his two greatest rivals were barred from, the electoral commission said Monday. Nearly nine million voters were eligible to cast their ballot Saturday in the world’s top cocoa producer, which has resisted coups and jihadist attacks plaguing much of west Africa but which saw tensions soar and deadly violence in the run-up to the election. Even before the provisional results’ announcement Ouattara was already anticipated to have swept the polls, after early tallies on Sunday showed him winning upwards of 90…
FORMER Mali prime minister Moussa Mara will spend one year in prison after a Bamako court sentenced him Monday following a social media post supporting political prisoners. His punishment for “undermining the credibility of the state and opposing legitimate authority” additionally includes a one-year suspended sentence. Mara, who was prime minister for eight months from 2014 until 2015, has been in prison since August 1 on charges following his July social media post in which he said he had met with political prisoners and promised justice. Mara listened impassively Monday as the National Cybercrime Centre court in Bamako handed down…
CAMEROON’s President Paul Biya, 92, has been re-elected for an eighth term with 53.7 per cent of the votes. This is according to official results announced by the Constitutional Council on Monday. Rival candidate and former government minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary came second with 35.2 per cent, the council said. Chiroma had claimed victory against the incumbent two days after the October 12 election. Earlier, four people were killed in clashes between security forces and supporters of a Cameroon opposition leader who claims to have won the recent presidential elections, authorities said ahead of the announcement of official results on…
REAL Madrid extended their lead at the top of La Liga to five points on Saturday after defeating Barcelona 2–1 in a fiercely contested El Clasico at the Santiago Bernabeu. However, the celebration was overshadowed by winger Vinicius Junior’s angry reaction to being substituted in the second half. Jude Bellingham marked his return to form with a goal and an assist his first league contributions since recovering from shoulder surgery while Kylian Mbappe continued his ruthless scoring streak, netting what proved to be the decisive goal. The victory also marked a successful first El Clasico in the dugout for manager…
ON the morning of October 16, nine-year-old Muhammad al-Hallaq woke up for another day in his small village south of Hebron. His mother, Alia, prepared his clothes and breakfast, and packed three extra slices of pizza for him to share with his friends, just like he’d asked. Muhammad came back from school with a new backpack and put his books and notepads inside it, excited to take it to school after the weekend. He ate a bit of food and then went out to watch the birds, as he liked to do. A child, excited by the simple things, and…
FRESH clashes near the border with Afghanistan have killed at least five Pakistani soldiers and 25 fighters, Pakistan’s army says, even as the two countries hold peace talks in Istanbul. The Pakistani military said armed men attempted to cross from Afghanistan into Kurram and North Waziristan on Friday and Saturday, accusing the Taliban authorities of failing to act against armed groups operating from Afghan territory. It said on Sunday that the attempted infiltrations raised questions over Kabul’s commitment to tackling “terrorism emanating from its soil”. Afghanistan’s Taliban government has not commented on the latest clashes, but has repeatedly rejected accusations…
DJIBOUTI’s parliament has removed the constitutional age ceiling for presidential candidates, opening the door for Ismail Omar Guelleh to seek a sixth term despite being 77 years old. All 65 lawmakers present voted on Sunday to eliminate the age restriction of 75 years, a move that would allow the veteran leader to contest elections scheduled for April 2026. The decision requires either presidential approval followed by a second parliamentary vote on November 2, or a national referendum. Guelleh, known widely as IOG, has governed the Horn of Africa nation since 1999, when he succeeded Hassan Gouled Aptidon, the country’s founding…
AT least two people have been killed by gunfire in Cameroon, as protesters rallied a day before the announcement of presidential election results, the opposition campaign has said. Hundreds of supporters of opposition candidate Issa Tchiroma barricaded roads and burned tyres in Cameroon’s commercial capital Douala on Sunday. Police fired tear gas and water cannon to break up the crowds. A police car was also burned. The protesters say Tchiroma beat veteran leader Paul Biya, 92, in the October 12 polls and have accused authorities of preparing to rig the election. Protests have flared in several cities, including the capital…
BRENTFORD heaped further misery on Premier League champions Liverpool with a fully deserved victory at Gtech Community Stadium. An emphatic midweek triumph at Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League ended a sequence of four successive defeats in all competitions for the Reds – but it proved to be a false dawn as the weaknesses that have plagued Arne Slot’s side this season surfaced yet again. Michael Kayode’s lethal long throw exposed Liverpool’s shaky rearguard in the fifth minute, with Dango Ouatarra scoring from Kristoffer Ajer’s flick-on. The hosts continued to trouble Liverpool and it was no surprise when they doubled…
A PALESTINIAN man returning to his Gaza neighbourhood destroyed by Israeli bombardment has found an unexploded Israeli armoured vehicle amid the rubble where he has had to set up temporary shelter. Families began returning to the southern city of Khan Younis following the ceasefire that took effect on October 10, joining more than 435,000 people who have made their way back in the other direction to northern areas from displacement camps further south. Many have found neighbourhoods razed to the ground, tangled metal and even dangerous weapons where there used to be residential buildings and homes. With nowhere to settle…
FORMER US vice president Kamala Harris said in a British television interview previewed Saturday that she may “possibly” run again to be president. Harris, who replaced Joe Biden as the 2024 Democratic presidential candidate but lost to Donald Trump, told the BBC that she had not yet decided whether to make another White House bid. But the 61-year-old insisted she was “not done” in American politics and that her young grandnieces would see a female president in the Oval Office “in their lifetime, for sure”. “I have lived my entire career a life of service, and it’s in my bones,…
TWO Cameroonian opposition figures and backers of presidential hopeful Issa Tchiroma Bakary, who challenged President Paul Biya’s 43-year grip on power in recent elections, have been arrested. Biya, the world’s oldest serving head of state aged 92, has been in power since 1982 and has won every election in the past 20 years with more than 70 per cent of the vote but former employment minister Tchiroma generated unexpected enthusiasm among voters in the central African nation. Anicet Ekane, leader of the African Movement for New Independence and Democracy (MANIDEM), and Djeukam Tchameni of the Movement for Democracy and Interdependence…
FORMER Madagascan President Andry Rajoelina, who was ousted in a coup last week, has been stripped of his citizenship by the new regime. The order, signed by new Prime Minister Herintsalama Rajaonarivelo, cited local laws stipulating that people who acquired foreign citizenship should lose their Malagasy nationality. Rajoelina, 51, obtained French citizenship a decade ago, prompting calls for his disqualification from the 2023 presidential election. But he defied those calls and went on to win. He fled the African island nation after weeks of protests over persistent power and water shortages, culminating in a military takeover led by Col Michael…
MANCHESTER United captain Bruno Fernandes says he will not discuss his future with anyone until after next year’s World Cup. The 31-year-old will make his 300th appearance for United on Saturday, as the club attempt to end a run of three successive home defeats by Brighton. It is an achievement made more remarkable by the fact that Fernandes has missed just 17 games since his £47m move from Sporting in January 2020 – and only three of those were because of injury or illness. The Portuguese rejected a huge offer from Al-Hilal in the summer, then dismissed subsequent interest elsewhere…
UNITED States top diplomat Marco Rubio says the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) “is not going to play any role” in aid delivery in Gaza, as he also rejected the possibility of Hamas being involved in any future governance of the Strip. Speaking during a news conference while on a visit to Israel on Friday, the US secretary of state claimed UNRWA had become “a subsidiary of Hamas”, echoing an Israeli government line that has been discredited by the International Court of Justice (ICJ). In response, UNRWA insisted that its presence “remains vital to meeting urgent humanitarian needs”…
US President Donald Trump leaves on Friday for Asia and high-stakes talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping — as Washington played down speculation that he could meet North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. Trump is set to meet Xi in South Korea on the last day of his trip, aiming for a “deal on everything” to end a bitter trade war between the world’s two biggest economies. The 79-year-old will also visit Malaysia and Japan on his first Asian trip since he returned to the White House in January in a blaze of tariffs and geopolitical deal-making. A senior US official…
GUINEANS have reacted with shock after it was announced that presidential candidates would need to pay a deposit of 875m Guinean francs ($100,000; £75,000) to contest December’s election, which should see the military leaders hand power to civilians. Guinea has been under military rule since Colonel Mamady Doumbouya seized power in a 2021 coup. The elections are being held under a new constitution that allowed Doumbouya to run for the presidency – although he has not announced if he plans to. While the previous deposit was almost as high – 800m francs – some analysts had hoped it would be…
NEARLY two-thirds of South Sudanese children are engaged in the worst forms of child labour, with rates reaching as high as 90 percent in the hardest-hit regions, according to a government study released with the charity Save the Children. The National Child Labour Study, published on Friday, surveyed more than 418 households across seven states and found that 64 percent of children aged between five and 17 are trapped in forced labour, sexual exploitation, theft and conflict. The findings reveal a crisis far more complex than poverty alone, intensified by relentless flooding, the spread of disease, and conflict that have…