MULTIPLE paramilitary drones attacked key army positions and civilian infrastructure in Sudan’s south on Sunday, an army official told AFP, just a week after similar strikes hit the capital. Since April 2023, Sudan has been gripped by a brutal war between the regular armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), killing tens of thousands and displacing millions. Sunday’s strikes targeted the headquarters of the Sudanese army’s 18th Division, along with fuel depots on the western bank of the Nile, east of the army-held city of Kosti in White Nile state, the official said. Additional attacks hit the Kenana…
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THE king of South Africa’s large Zulu community has challenged a professor and cultural expert to a stick fight, saying he had been insulted, along with the entire Zulu nation. King Misuzulu kaZwelithini issued the challenge to Prof Musa Xulu in front of thousands of people who had gathered at his newly built royal palace for the annual Reed Dance. “We are angry and we will do anything to protect and preserve our cultures,” he said, according to the Timeslive news site. Prof Xulu told the BBC he took the king’s personal challenge as a joke, however he said he…
ARSENAL delivered a commanding performance at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday, brushing aside Nottingham Forest 3–0 to maintain their strong start to the Premier League season and prove why their £250 million summer recruitment drive was worth every penny. Manager Mikel Arteta’s side started with five of their eight summer signings, including headline arrivals Viktor Gyokeres and Martin Zubimendi, who both impressed in a display that underlined the Gunners’ strength in depth. The Gunners were without key stars Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz, and William Saliba, while captain Martin Odegaard was forced off with a shoulder injury inside 20 minutes. Last…
ISRAELI air strikes hit two UN schools sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza City with more than 60 people killed since dawn throughout the war-battered Strip. Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani meets US President Donald Trump in New York in the wake of Israel’s deadly strike on Doha. Sheikh Mohammed, who is also the country’s foreign minister, has been engaged in a flurry of diplomatic activity in the US since Israel’s attack on a Hamas meeting in Doha on Tuesday, which killed a Qatari security official and five Hamas members who were discussing a new…
HOW did Tyler Robinson, a straight-A student raised Mormon by Republican parents become the alleged assassin of right-wing mega-influencer Charlie Kirk? It’s a question that has gripped Washington, the small town in Utah where the suspect grew up. The 22-year-old arrested late Thursday after a 33-hour manhunt reportedly confessed to killing Kirk, whose popularity among young conservatives helped Donald Trump win the presidential election last November. Robinson grew up the eldest of three boys in a mid-sized house on a winding street with manicured lawns, in a neighborhood that backs up to a church. He was “quiet, respectful, kind of…
TWO presidents vying for a second term at Malawi’s elections next week drew hundreds of supporters to their final rallies Saturday ahead of what is expected to be a tight race to govern one of the world’s poorest countries. Tuesday’s presidential and parliamentary elections come with the southern African country in economic crisis, marked by fuel and foreign currency shortages and the after-effects of drought and cyclones. “There have been complaints about the cost of living, the lack of resources, food scarcity,” incumbent President Lazarus Chakwera told a crowd packed into a stadium in the capital Lilongwe, the heartland of…
CONVICTED South African rapist Thabo Bester has lost a court bid to block Netflix from broadcasting a documentary about his life including how he allegedly faked his death and escaped from prison. His lawyers argued that Beauty and the Bester was defamatory, but the streaming giant defended its plan to release the three-part investigation. Bester’s partner, celebrity doctor Nandipha Magudumana, features in the documentary, having allegedly helped him escape. She was part of the court bid to halt the release. In a court ruling on Friday, a judge said the rape case was “firmly in the public domain” and that…
PEP Guardiola said Erling Haaland is “a little bit above” Alexander Isak as the Manchester City boss responded to Arne Slot’s claim that Liverpool’s new signing was “maybe the best striker in the world.” Isak could make his Liverpool debut at Burnley on Sunday after the Sweden star completed a British-record £125 million ($169 million) move from Newcastle on transfer deadline day. Liverpool manager Slot hailed Isak’s quality after the 25-year-old trained with the Premier League champions for the first time this week. But his suggestion that Isak could be the world’s best did not go down well with City…
THE UN General Assembly voted Friday to back a resolution which seeks to breathe new life into the two-state solution between Israel and Palestine without the involvement of Hamas. The text was adopted by 142 votes in favor, 10 against including Israel and key ally the United States — and 12 abstentions. It clearly condemns Hamas and demands that it surrender its weapons. Although Israel has criticized UN bodies for nearly two years over their failure to condemn Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023, the declaration, presented by France and Saudi Arabia, leaves no ambiguity. Formally called the New York…
BRAZIL’s Supreme Court on Thursday sentenced firebrand ex-president Jair Bolsonaro to 27 years in prison for coup plotting at the end of a landmark trial that divided the nation and drew US fury. The sentence could see the 70-year-old far-right leader spend the rest of his days in jail. Judges voted 4-1 to convict Bolsonaro of plotting to overthrow Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva following his October 2022 election defeat by the left-winger. Prosecutors said the plan failed only due to a lack of support from military top brass. Bolsonaro’s defense team called the sentence “incredibly excessive” and announced he…
BURKINA Faso says it has removed visa fees for all African travellers, in an effort to facilitate the movement of people and goods into the country. “From now on, any citizen from an African country wishing to go to Burkina Faso will not pay any amount to cover visa fees,” said Mahamadou Sana, the country’s security minister, following a cabinet meeting chaired by military leader Capt Ibrahim Traoré on Thursday. African visitors will however be required to submit an online visa application, which will be reviewed for approval, the minister clarified. The West African nation joins countries such as Ghana,…
ZAMBIA’s government says it will seek more compensation for communities affected by a toxic spill from a Chinese-owned copper mine, if it is needed following a full assessment. The spill of highly acidic mine-waste laden with toxic heavy metals happened in February when a dam that held waste from the Sino-Metals Leach Zambia copper mine collapsed, polluting a key river that is a major source of drinking water. The firm apologised and pledged to compensate the victims but Zambia’s Vice-President Mutale Nalumango says that “may not be all”, adding that the safety of Zambians was “non-negotiable”. Some embassies have warned…
THE Football Association (FA) has charged Chelsea Football Club with 74 alleged rule breaches relating to agent payments, intermediaries, and third-party involvement in player transfers carried out between 2009 and 2022. The sweeping charges focus on transactions during the Roman Abramovich era, particularly between the 2010-11 and 2015-16 seasons, a period that saw Chelsea sign some of the biggest stars in world football. The FA confirmed that three of the transfers under review involve club legends Eden Hazard, Samuel Eto’o, and Willian, though there is no suggestion of wrongdoing by the players themselves. Roman Abramovich, the Russian oligarch who owned…
ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has officially moved forward with a settlement expansion plan in the occupied West Bank that would make any future Palestinian state virtually impossible. The Israeli leader signed an agreement on Thursday to move ahead with the project, which would bisect the West Bank. “We are going to fulfil our promise that there will be no Palestinian state. This place belongs to us,” Netanyahu said at the event in Maale Adumim, an Israeli settlement just east of Jerusalem. “We are going to double the city’s population.” The settlement, on a 12sq-km (4.6sq-mile) tract of land east…
US authorities investigating the killing of right-wing youth leader Charlie Kirk released pictures Thursday of a man they were hunting, as Donald Trump paid tribute to a “giant of his generation.” Kirk, a 31-year-old superstar on the Republican right who was credited with helping Trump return to the presidency last year, was shot while addressing a large crowd at Utah Valley University on Wednesday. The killing described by the FBI as a “targeted event” shocked a nation already reeling from political tensions half a year into Trump’s second term. Law enforcement officials, including members of an FBI forensics team, investigate…
SOUTH Sudan’s First Vice-President Riek Machar has been charged with murder, treason and crimes against humanity in a move that some fear could reignite the country’s civil war. Justice Minister Joseph Geng Akech said the charges against Machar relate to an attack in March by a militia allegedly linked to the vice-president. The roads leading to his house in the capital, Juba, have been blocked by tanks and soldiers. Forces loyal to Machar fought a five-year civil war against those backing President Salva Kiir until a 2018 peace deal ending the fighting in the world’s newest country. Machar has been…
IN a landmark judgment that strikes a major blow against entrenched patriarchal norms, South Africa’s Constitutional Court has ruled that men must be allowed to take their wives’ surnames — a right previously denied under national law. The court, in a unanimous decision delivered Thursday, declared that the legal provisions barring men from automatically assuming their wives’ surnames upon marriage amounted to unfair gender discrimination and violated the country’s equality clause. In its ruling, the court noted that while the law technically restricted men, it also had a deeper, “far more insidious” impact on women. “It reinforces patriarchal gender norms,…
A FORMER group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, has left the headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) after he was interrogated over financial matters during his time in office. News Point Nigeria gathered that Kyari was seen walking into the headquarters of the anti-graft agency in Abuja at about 2:15pm on Wednesday. As he was walked in, the former GMD said, “I have done my part; the EFCC must do theirs. When each of us does our duty without fear or favour, with honour, respect, and commitment, Nigeria moves forward.”…
BOLIVIA kept their 2026 World Cup dream alive by snatching a play-off place with a 1-0 victory over Brazil in El Alto on Tuesday, taking advantage of Venezuela’s home defeat to Colombia. Miguel Terceros’s penalty on the stroke of half-time proved to be the difference for Bolivia against the five-time world champions, in a match played 4,150 metres above sea level. The victory dragged Bolivia above Venezuela into seventh place in the final standings of South American qualifying, earning them a berth in next year’s continental play-offs for the tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada. Venezuela, who were…
AT least 35 people have been killed after Israel carried out air strikes in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and al-Jawf governorate, a day after targeting Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital, Doha. Yemen’s Ministry of Health said on Wednesday that 131 people were wounded in Israeli aggression on Sanaa and al-Jawf. It described the figures as a preliminary toll, warning the number could rise as rescue teams continue to search for victims. The ministry said the raids struck civilian and residential areas, including homes in Sanaa’s al-Tahrir neighbourhood, a medical facility on 60th Street in the southwest of the city,…