Author: Editor

THE BBC understands the boss of a degrading sex-trade ring that exploited vulnerable women in Dubai’s most glamorous neighbourhoods has been detained in the United Arab Emirates. Charles “Abbey” Mwesigwa, who was identified in a recent BBC investigation as running the network, was filmed telling an undercover reporter he could provide women for a sex party at a starting price of $1,000 (£750). He also said the women could do “pretty much everything” clients wanted them to and said he was a former London bus driver. It is not clear what charges – if any – Mwesigwa is facing in…

MANCHESTER United manager Ruben Amorim has confirmed Amad Diallo will miss Saturday’s trip to Brentford following the death of a family member. Amad has split his time between attacking midfield and a wing back role this season, starting five of United’s six matches across all competitions and establishing himself as an integral part of Amorim’s 3-4-2-1 setup. The 23-year-old will miss his first match of the campaign on Saturday after being granted compassionate leave by United. “Amad is not here because someone in his family passed away,” Amorim revealed. “We are giving all the support to Amad and understood he…

ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has delivered a defiant speech at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), attempting to justify his country’s genocide in Gaza and denouncing Western allies as global criticism over the nearly two-year war mounts. Speaking at UNGA in New York on Friday, the increasingly isolated Israeli leader railed against the “disgraceful decision” by some Western countries in recent days to recognise a Palestinian state. “It will be a mark of shame on all of you,” he said. “Your disgraceful decision will encourage terrorism against Jews, and against innocent people everywhere.” Netanyahu, who is facing an International…

A JUDGE on Friday jailed a nursery worker for eight years for a string of “gratuitous” and “sadistic” attacks on babies. In one incident, Londoner Roksana Lecka, 22, kicked a little boy in the face several times. Lecka, who blamed cannabis for her crimes, admitted seven counts of cruelty to a person under the age of 16 and was convicted after a trial of another 14 counts. Sentencing her for attacks on 21 babies, Judge Sarah Plaschkes said she had committed “multiple acts of gratuitous violence” at two London nurseries where she worked. “You pinched, slapped, punched, smacked and kicked…

NAMIBIA’s authorities have warned people not to hold parties at cemeteries after a social gathering at a gravesite in the capital, Windhoek, sparked outrage last weekend. According to City of Windhoek officials, the event at Gammams cemetery “showed seating arrangements, cooler boxes and alcohol” on full display. One Windhoek resident who witnessed the party said it was “nothing short of disgraceful”. In a Facebook post, she described the scene that met mourners entering the gravesite, saying “from the entrance all the way inside, car boots were open, people were drinking, and the cemetery resembled a shebeen rather than a place…

SOME 260 suspected cyber scammers have been arrested in a sting operation carried out across 14 African countries. The operation, co-ordinated by Interpol and funded by the UK, targeted criminal networks using social media and digital platforms to extract money from victims in romance scams, and in so-called “sextortion”, in which victims are blackmailed using explicit imagery. “It doesn’t take long before you develop a connection with somebody… and very quickly this trust is shattered,” Interpol’s director of cybercrime Neal Jetton told the BBC’s Newsday programme, describing the perpetrators’ tactics. More than 1,400 victims across Ghana, Kenya, Angola and elsewhere…

PALESTINIAN Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has decried Israel’s use of starvation as a weapon, calling out “the extremist Israeli government” for its continued settlement projects that make a future Palestinian state virtually impossible. The 89-year-old addressed world leaders gathered for the United Nations General Assembly via videolink on Thursday after being refused a visa by the United States to travel to New York. “I speak to you today after almost two years in which our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip have been facing a war of genocide, destruction, starvation and displacement,” Abbas said. The Palestinian leader began his speech…

DEFENSE Secretary Pete Hegseth has summoned senior United States military officers from their posts around the world to a meeting next week in Virginia, for what is expected to be a rare gathering. The summons was reported in US media on Thursday and confirmed later in the day by Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell. It was not immediately clear why Hegseth ordered the generals and admirals to meet in Virginia on such short notice or what the meeting’s agenda will look like. There are approximately 800 generals and admirals in the US military, and such senior officials can, in some cases,…

FORMER French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to five years in jail after being found guilty of criminal conspiracy in a case related to millions of euros of illicit funds from the late Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi. The Paris criminal court acquitted him of all other charges, including passive corruption and illegal campaign financing. The ruling means he will spend time in jail even if he launches an appeal, which Sarkozy says he intends to do. Speaking after Thursday’s hearing, the 70-year-old, who was president from 2007-12, said the verdict was “extremely serious for rule of law”. Sarkozy,…

THE French navy has seized nearly 10 tonnes of cocaine, worth $610m (£540m) off the coast of West Africa, French authorities have said. Two French naval vessels operating as part of Operation Corymbe intercepted the enormous cocaine haul from an unflagged fishing vessel on Monday, acting on a tip-off from maritime intelligence, anti-drug authorities and the British National Crime Agency. The Corymbe naval mission has been deployed by France in the Gulf of Guinea since 1990 to ensure security in an area where piracy is fairly common. The French navy said that 54 tonnes of drugs had been intercepted in…

AT least 12 Palestinians, among them seven women and two children, have been killed in a strike on a stadium sheltering displaced families in the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza, as Israel pressed ahead with its relentless attacks despite calls for a ceasefire from world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly. The al-Ahli Stadium, which has been converted into a makeshift refuge for Palestinians fleeing the Israeli onslaught, became the site of another massacre on Wednesday. “I only had what I had in my hand. I left with nothing,” Najwa, a displaced woman from Gaza City, told Al Jazeera.…

SHEIKH Dr Saleh bin Humaid has been appointed Grand Mufti of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, according to Inside the Haramain. He will also serve as Head of the Senior Council of Scholars by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. The Royal Court is expected to make an announcement shortly, Inside the Harmain said on its Facebook page Wednesday (September 24). His predecessor, Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Abdullah al-Sheikh, who served the kingdom’s top religious figure over a quarter century, died Tuesday. He was in his 82. Sheikh Abdulaziz’s role as grand mufti put him as one of the top…

MALAWI’s former President Peter Mutharika has been declared the winner of last week’s elections, in a huge comeback for the 85-year-old. Official results show that he won 57% of the vote, compared to the 33% of President Lazarus Chakwera, 70. Chakwera, a pastor before entering politics, conceded defeat ahead of the final result being declared, phoning Mutharika to congratulate him on his “historic win”. Mutharika, a former professor of law, served as president from 2014 to 2020, when he lost to Chakwera by a wide margin. He inherits an economy that is in deep crisis, with a severe shortage of…

AT least six of the 11 West Africans deported to Ghana as part of the US crackdown on immigration have been transferred to Togo, their lawyers have said. The group was in the process of suing Ghana’s government to prevent their further deportation, amid concerns over their safety. “We can confirm that six were sent to Togo, the others have been sent to countries which I can’t disclose at this point,” lead lawyer Oliver Barker-Vormawor told the BBC. Only three of those sent to Togo are Togolese. The nationalities of the others has not been disclosed. Neither Togo nor Ghana…

ARSENAL expect Noni Madueke to miss six to eight weeks with the knee injury sustained in the 1-1 draw with Manchester City on Sunday. However, the 23-year-old England winger is not believed to have suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. The summer signing from Chelsea was substituted at half-time of the Premier League match with City and has been having tests to discover the severity of the problem. “It looks like Noni is going to be out for a few weeks, but we don’t really know yet, we will have to scan him next week again,” said Arsenal manager…

DEADLY Israeli air attacks have intensified in Gaza City and ground forces have advanced in the south of the city, killing at least 36 Palestinians across the enclave. This is as Gaza’s Health Ministry has warned that patients are facing “certain death” as hospitals in the besieged territory may have to shutter vital departments within “a few days” due to fuel shortages. Also, leaders of six countries, including France, have moved to recognise Palestinian statehood at a high-level summit before the annual United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York. Meanwhile, Israel has also ordered the indefinite closure of the…

SAUDI Arabia’s Grand Mufti and head of the Council of Senior Scholars, Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh, has died in Riyadh at the age of 82. The Saudi Royal Court confirmed his death in a statement on Tuesday morning. Abdulaziz was appointed imam and preacher of the historic Namirah Mosque in Arafat in 1982. For 34 consecutive years, until 2014, he delivered the annual Hajj sermon at the Arafat plain. In 1999, following the death of Sheikh Abdul Aziz Ibn Baz, Abdulaziz was appointed the Kingdom’s grand mufti. “The Royal Court stated that with his passing, the kingdom and the Islamic…

UGANDA’s long-time President Yoweri Museveni has been confirmed to stand in the January 2026 elections, as he seeks to extend his nearly 40-year rule in the African country. Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, on Tuesday urged supporters to back his vision for the future after electoral officials near the capital, Kampala, announced that the 81-year-old leader would be on the ballot. The governing National Resistance Movement (NRM) party officially confirmed him in June as its presidential candidate. In a post on X, Museveni thanked his supporters for entrusting him to run again for the 2026-2031 term. “In…

MALI, Burkina Faso and Niger, three nations in West Africa run by military governments after coups in recent years, have announced their exit from the International Criminal Court (ICC), referring to it as “neocolonial repression” and accusing the judicial body of selective justice. In a joint statement on Monday night, the three countries said the ICC had become incapable of prosecuting war crimes, crimes against humanity, crimes of aggression and genocide without elaborating. “[The ICC is an] instrument of neocolonial repression in the hands of imperialism,” the joint statement read, adding that the countries were seeking more “sovereignty”. The three…

SUPER Falcons goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie placed fourth, while England’s Hannah Hampton claimed the Women’s Yashin Trophy at the 2025 Ballon d’Or awards. Hampton, 24, played a decisive role in England’s Euro 2025 triumph, saving two penalties against Spain in the final. She also helped Chelsea secure an unbeaten treble, cementing her place as the world’s top goalkeeper for the 2024/25 season. Nnadozie was a standout performer for the Super Falcons at the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations. The former Paris FC goalkeeper was named best goalkeeper of the tournament as Nigeria beat hosts Morocco 3-2 in Rabat. Nnadozie’s efforts guided…