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QATAR’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani has warned against Israel’s expansionist vision of the Arab region as he lambasted the country for last week’s deadly bombing of Doha, calling the attack “blatant, treacherous, and cowardly”. “My country’s capital was subjected to a treacherous attack targeting a residence housing the families of Hamas leaders and their negotiating delegation,” the Qatari emir said in his opening speech at the emergency summit of the Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). “Our citizens were surprised, and the entire world was shocked by the aggression and cowardly terrorist act,” he said,…

POLICE have physically removed The Gambia’s auditor general, Momodou Ceesay, from his office after he refused to give up the post, in a government reshuffle carried out by President Adama Barrow. Ceesay, who has spent almost three years as auditor general in the West African state, says he had turned down Barrow’s recent offer to become trade minister. Yet the president insists that Ceesay originally agreed, but later changed his mind. The row has angered many Gambians, with some accusing the president of trying to replace Ceesay with someone who will shield him from corruption allegations. The president has promoted…

A COURT in Zambia has sentenced two men to two years in prison for attempting to use witchcraft to kill President Hakainde Hichilema. Zambian Leonard Phiri and Mozambican Jasten Mabulesse Candunde were convicted under the Witchcraft Act after being arrested in December with charms in their possession, including a live chameleon. “It is my considered view that the convicts were not only the enemy of the head of state but were also enemies of all Zambians,” magistrate Fine Mayambu said in his ruling. The case has been closely followed in Zambia, as this was the first time anyone was put…

ERLING Haaland struck twice as Manchester City inflicted another damaging defeat on Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim with a comprehensive 3-0 win on Sunday. Phil Foden opened the scoring before Haaland took centre stage with a second-half double, either side of an incredible miss from the Norwegian, as City bounced back from two consecutive Premier League defeats. United went into a derby ahead of City in the table for the first time in five years. But that owed more to City’s early-season struggles than signs of progress for Amorim’s men, who have taken just four points from their opening four…

FOREIGN doctors who have volunteered in Gaza say they have treated more than 100 children shot in the head or chest, clear evidence, they argue, that Israel is deliberately targeting minors. In testimonies collected by the Dutch daily Volkskrant, 15 out of 17 doctors described encountering children under 15 with single bullet wounds to the head or chest. Together, they identified 114 such cases during their missions in Gaza. Many of the children died while others survived with devastating injuries. “This is not crossfire. These are war crimes,” American emergency physician Mimi Syed told Volkskrant. She documented 18 children shot…

NEPAL’s new leader vowed Sunday to follow protesters’ demands to “end corruption” as she began work as interim prime minister, after “Gen Z” youth demonstrations ousted her predecessor. Sushila Karki, the 73-year-old former chief justice, has been tasked with restoring order and addressing protesters’ demands for a corruption-free future ahead of elections in six months. Protests, sparked by a ban on social media and feeding into long-standing economic woes, began on Monday and quickly escalated, with parliament and key government buildings set ablaze. “We have to work according to the thinking of the Gen Z generation,” Karki said in her…

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…

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…