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SOUTH African soldiers moved into gang-ridden Cape Town townships on Wednesday, as two people were killed in fresh violence, nearly 50 days after the president ordered the deployment. Troops in full combat gear and carrying assault rifles stepped from armoured vehicles that arrived with sirens blaring in Mitchells Plain, a neighbourhood in the Cape Flats. The low-lying area, nestled between tourist magnet Cape Town and the scenic winelands, is a hotspot for murder and plagued by gang turf wars and retaliatory attacks. Two men, aged 25 and 33, were shot and killed in a 5 am (0300 GMT) attack in…

AT least four people have been killed by a series of powerful explosions at an ammunitions depot in Burundi’s largest city, Bujumbura, local residents have told the BBC. The blasts erupted late on Tuesday at the facility, located in the suburb of Musaga, due to an electrical fault, an army spokesperson said. Shrapnel and debris were propelled more than 5km (three miles) and several houses in nearby districts were destroyed by the force of the explosions. The authorities have not yet provided any casualty figures but family members and eyewitnesses told the BBC of four separate deaths in the city.…

THE stunning elimination of Italy national football team from the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers has deepened what many are now calling a full-blown footballing crisis for one of the sport’s most decorated nations. In a dramatic playoff final decided by penalties, Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team triumphed to secure a historic place at the global tournament, while Italy’s absence from the World Cup will now extend to three consecutive editions, an unthinkable reality for a four-time champion. For Italy, this latest failure adds to a growing list of painful exits. After the shock defeat to North Macedonia in…

IRAN’s Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday that they would target leading US technology firms like Apple, Google and Meta if more Iranian leaders were killed in “targeted assassinations”. “These companies, starting from 8:00 pm (1630 GMT) Tehran time on Wednesday, April 1, should expect the destruction of their relevant units in exchange for every assassination in Iran,” the Guards said in a statement listing the names of 18 companies it alleged were complicit in the killing of officials. “We advise the employees of these institutions to immediately leave their workplaces to preserve their lives,” it added. The threat comes as…

THE White House has suggested that US President Donald Trump will ask Arab countries to cover the cost of the United States’ war against Iran, estimated to be in the tens of billions of dollars. Trump’s spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt, was asked on Monday whether Arab states should pay for the war, as when US allies helped fund Washington’s intervention during the Gulf War in 1990. “I think it’s something the president would be quite interested in calling them to do,” Leavitt told reporters. “I won’t get ahead of him on that, but certainly it’s an idea that I know that…

AT least 74 mine workers have been killed by gunmen in an area south-west of the capital, Juba, with government and opposition officials trading accusations over who was behind the deaths. The violence occurred over the weekend in mineral-rich Jebel Iraq, which is controlled by the army. The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO), the party of suspended First-Vice President Riek Machar, condemned the killings, accusing government forces of being responsible. Paulino Lukudu Obede, acting governor of Central Equatoria state, which includes Jebel Iraq, said the government was “shocked and outraged” by the “brutal and barbaric killing of innocent…

RAPE and sexual violence remain “part of everyday life” in areas of Sudan even when fighting in the country’s civil war has moved elsewhere, according to a new report by medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Calling rape a “defining feature” of the conflict, it says sexual assault is overwhelmingly carried out by armed men and is often accompanied by acts of brutality and humiliation. But MSF says rape persists as an “insidious” part of life for communities in the western region of Darfur that are no longer on the front line. The report is the most comprehensive account yet…

LIONEL Messi will start for Argentina in a friendly against Zambia on Tuesday in what is the reigning world champions’ final game on home soil before they defend their World Cup crown. Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said Messi, who began on the bench for Friday’s lacklustre 2-1 win over Mauritania, will spearhead what is expected to be a full-strength side against Zambia. “Messi will be in the starting lineup tomorrow,” Scaloni said. Messi, 38, has not formally confirmed he plans to play in the World Cup, but played a full part in Argentina’s qualification campaign for the finals. Scaloni indicated…

DONALD Trump has renewed his threat to “blow up” a range of civilian infrastructure in Iran, including all of the country’s desalination plants, in a move that would threaten the water source for millions of people and that experts say would be illegal. The United States president has been regularly warning Iran about possible US strikes against energy and electricity facilities, but on Monday, he added water stations to the list of targets. “The United States of America is in serious discussions with A NEW, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME to end our Military Operations in Iran,” Trump wrote in a…

SPAIN has closed its airspace to planes of the United States involved in the US-Israel war on Iran, the latest step in the country’s opposition to the conflict. Defence Minister Margarita Robles confirmed the airspace closure to reporters on Monday after Spain’s El Pais newspaper first reported on it, quoting military sources. “This was made perfectly clear to the American military and forces from the very beginning. Therefore, neither the bases are authorised, nor, of course, is the use of Spanish airspace authorised for any actions related to the war in Iran,” Robles said. “I think everyone knows Spain’s position;…

THREE people, two women and a man, have been confirmed dead after a three-storey building that was being used as a church collapsed on worshippers in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, on Sunday. Interior Minister Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak said 20 others, most of them women and children, had been rescued and were being treated in various hospitals. There was a “90-95% certainty” that no-one remain trapped inside, he added. Emergency teams worked through the night under floodlights searching for victims inside the structure’s remains. The cause of its collapse, which happened after heavy rain, is unknown, with the interior minister saying investigations…

SOMALI federal troops Monday wrested control of the key city of Baidoa after clashes with forces loyal to the head of the region, whose mandate Mogadishu says expired four years ago. Deeply fractured Somalia’s central government accuses the South West State president, Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen, of having illegally extended his rule, which, in theory, expired in 2022. The fighting comes after Laftagareen opposed a reform of the Somali constitution, adopted in early March, which extends the presidential term from four to five years and introduces the election of Somali MPs and senators by direct universal suffrage instead of the…

MINISTER of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, has resigned from his position in the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, setting the stage for his anticipated bid in the 2027 governorship election in Bauchi State. News Point Nigeria gathered that Tuggar submitted his resignation letter on Monday around noon, in compliance with a presidential directive mandating political appointees with electoral ambitions to step down before the March 31, 2026 deadline. Sources close to the former minister confirmed that the resignation is a strategic move to enable him contest the Bauchi governorship election under the platform of the All Progressives Congress…

FORMER Governor of Kano State, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has formally resigned from the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) with immediate effect. In a press statement announcing his resignation on Sunday, Kwankwaso expressed his profound gratitude for the honour and privilege of serving as the NNPP’s national leader and its presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections. As a committed and bonafide member of the party, he, however, admitted that it was not an easy decision to make. “However, considering the current trajectory of the nation’s political landscape, which calls for strategic realignment, I have found it necessary to identify…

TOTTENHAM parted company with coach Igor Tudor by mutual consent on Sunday after just seven games in charge as they battle to stay in the Premier League. Tudor lost five of those matches in a 44-day reign to leave Spurs out of the Champions League and hovering just one point above the relegation zone in the Premier League. The 47-year-old did not appear in front of the media after last weekend’s damaging 3-0 defeat to fellow strugglers Nottingham Forest after learning of his father’s death just after the game ended. “We can confirm that it has been mutually agreed for…

THE Pentagon is preparing for weeks of limited ground operations in Iran, potentially including raids on Kharg Island and coastal sites near the Strait of Hormuz, according to United States officials quoted by The Washington Post newspaper. The plans, which fall short of a full invasion, could involve raids by special operations and conventional infantry troops, the Post reported on Saturday, exposing US personnel to Iranian drones and missiles, ground fire, and improvised explosives. Whether President Donald Trump would approve any of those plans remains uncertain, according to the report. “It’s the job of the Pentagon to make preparations in…

ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed his country’s military to further expand invasions of southern Lebanon, as regional tensions spike amid the United States-Israeli war on Iran. “I have just instructed to further expand the existing security buffer zone. We are determined to fundamentally change the situation in the north [of Israel],” Netanyahu said in a video statement from the Northern Command on Sunday, pushing forward his country’s stated bid to replicate the “Gaza model” of occupation. Netanyahu’s announcement came as Israeli forces advanced in multiple areas of southern Lebanon in a concerted push towards the Litani River in…

AN attack by Sudanese paramilitaries on South Kordofan has killed at least 14 people, including five children and two women, according to a medical group. The Sudan Doctors Network said the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and their allies in the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement–North shelled residential areas in the city of Dilling in an attack that lasted hours, leaving at least 23 others wounded, including seven children. The military, which this year broke an RSF siege on the city that saw supplies cut off and frequent bombardment, said it fended off the attack on the capital of South Kordofan province.…

SHOPS, restaurants and cafes in Egypt have been told to close early as part of a raft of temporary measures to combat soaring energy prices caused by the Iran war. Retail and dining premises will have to close by 21:00 (19:00 GMT) each night for the next month, beginning on Saturday. The “exceptional measures” introduced by the Egyptian government also include dimming street lights and roadside advertising, as well as a return to home working for one day a week in April for many. Egypt has been particularly affected by the Middle East conflict and the effective blockade of the…

SENEGAL coach Pape Thiaw insisted Friday that “trophies are won on the pitch” when asked about the decision to strip his team of the Africa Cup of Nations title and declare Morocco the champions. “I am focused on my job. It is important to not be distracted. Everyone knows we are the champions of Africa,” Thiaw told reporters at a press conference in Paris, ahead of his team’s friendly meeting with Peru on Saturday at the Stade de France. “We are going to keep working hard to try to win more trophies. It is clear in our minds that trophies…