THE US will require citizens from Malawi and Zambia to pay a $15,000 (£11,300) deposit for a tourist or business visa, according to the US state department. The 12-month pilot programme aims to curb visa overstays “or where screening and vetting information is considered deficient”, according to a notice published by the state department. Officials say that citizens of countries other than Malawi and Zambia may soon also need to pay a similar deposit, which will be returned at the end of their visit to the US. The US administration has taken several steps to further President Donald Trump’s agenda…
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GHANA is in mourning following the tragic loss of two high-ranking government officials, Defence Minister Edward Omane Boamah and Environment, Science and Technology Minister Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed, who were among eight people killed in a military helicopter crash on Wednesday. According to an official statement from the Ghanaian Presidency, the aircraft, a Ghana Air Force helicopter took off from the capital city, Accra, shortly after 9:00am, en route to Obuasi in the Ashanti Region. The chopper, carrying three crew members and five passengers, went off radar during its journey and was later confirmed to have crashed. All eight occupants perished…
FORMER Arsenal footballer Thomas Partey was granted conditional bail on Tuesday after appearing in a London court on rape and sexual assault charges. The 32-year-old Ghana international has been charged with five counts of rape against two women and one count of sexual assault against a third woman. The alleged offences took place between 2021 and 2022, when he was an Arsenal player. Partey was charged on July 4, four days after leaving the Gunners when his contract expired at the end of June. The midfielder stood with his arms behind his back in the dock at Westminster Magistrates’ Court…
ISRAELI attacks have killed at least 83 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip amid a deepening Israel-induced hunger crisis, medical sources have told Al Jazeera, as hospitals in the besieged territory have recorded eight more deaths from starvation and malnutrition. Among those killed on Tuesday were 58 aid seekers, who were shot by Israeli forces as they approached aid distribution sites operated by the United States- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said the “same exact scenario plays out in Gaza every single day” since GHF distribution sites began operating…
META on Tuesday said it shut nearly seven million WhatsApp accounts linked to scammers in the first half of this year and is ramping up safeguards against such schemes. “Our team identified the accounts and disabled them before the criminal organizations that created them could use them,” WhatsApp external affairs director Clair Deevy said. Often run by organized gangs, the scams range from bogus cryptocurrency investments to get-rich-quick pyramid schemes, WhatsApp executives said in a briefing. “There is always a catch and it should be a red flag for everyone: you have to pay upfront to get promised returns or…
RWANDA has said it will accept up to 250 migrants from the US in a deal agreed with President Donald Trump’s administration. Under the scheme the deportees would be given “workforce training, health care, and accommodation to jump start their lives in Rwanda”, government spokesperson Yolande Makole confirmed to the BBC. A condition of the agreement was that Rwanda would have “the ability to approve each individual proposed for resettlement”, she added. The White House has not commented on the deal directly but told the BBC it was constantly talking to countries “willing to assist us in removing the illegal…
GHANA’s government has issued an ultimatum to satellite broadcaster DStv to reduce subscription prices by Thursday, or face a suspension of its broadcasting licence. Minister for Communications, Samuel George, said he had directed the National Communications Authority to initiate suspension proceedings against MultiChoice Ghana, the local operator of DStv, if the company fails to comply with regulatory expectations for a price cut. “I have directed the NCA to act swiftly. “If by the 7th of August DStv has not complied, their broadcasting licence will be suspended,” George said. He accused the company of overpricing its services despite favourable exchange rate…
THE Kano State Government has marked its first-ever International Cultural Day, a colorful celebration aimed at showcasing the state’s rich cultural heritage and reaffirming its role as a historic center for commerce, Islamic scholarship, traditional arts, and craftsmanship. Declaring the event open at the Coronation Hall, Government House, Kano, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf said the occasion was not only a celebration of the state’s glorious past, but also a strategic step toward positioning culture and tourism as key drivers of economic prosperity and collective pride. This was contained in a statement issued by the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary,…
THE Chief Executive Officer of Atalanta Football Club, Antonio Percassi, has stated that Nigeria’s winger, Ademola Lookman, is only allowed to leave the club this summer, but only to a super top club outside of Italy. In a social media post on Monday, Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano quoted Percassi as saying, “The pact with Lookman was made one year ago when we rejected €20m from PSG. “We told him: we’ll let you leave in 2025 for a super top club and not in Italy. Now, the situation [with Inter] is different… and as always, it’s us deciding.” The forward recently…
MATHEUS Cunha and Manchester City’s Rodri are big admirers of Brighton midfielder Carlos Baleba, who Rio Ferdinand wants Manchester United to sign over striker Benjamin Sesko Matheus Cunha believes a midfielder Manchester United have been urged to sign can win the Ballon d’Or. “I think the club and Coach Amorim should bring Baleba’, he told The mirror. Rio Ferdinand has advised United to abandon their pursuit of Benjamin Sekso and instead go all out for Brighton’s Carlos Baleba. The Red Devils have already bolstered their attack this summer with the acquisitions of Cunha from Wolves and Bryan Mbeumo from Brentford.…
AT least 74 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since dawn on Monday, including 36 aid seekers, as the United Nations warns that 28 children are dying a day from Israeli bombardment and lack of aid. Israeli media has reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold a security cabinet meeting tomorrow, as he weighs possibility of launching operation to take full control of Gaza. Hamas says it is open to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delivering aid to Israeli captives in Gaza if Israel opens “humanitarian corridors” to deliver aid to all people…
BRAZIL’s Supreme Court has issued a house arrest order for former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is standing trial for allegedly plotting a coup. The decision, issued on Monday, comes a day after protests in support of the former far-right president were held across Brazil. Bolsonaro is accused of seeking to overturn the 2022 election, won by his left-wing opponent, current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The order was issued by Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is facing sanctions by the administration of United States President Donald Trump for overseeing the case against Bolsonaro. Moraes said Bolsonaro had violated precautionary…
A WHITE South African farm worker accused of killing two black women says he was forced to feed their bodies to pigs, according to lawyers. Adrian de Wet is one of three men facing murder charges after Maria Makgato, 45, and Lucia Ndlovu, 34, were killed while allegedly looking for food on a farm near Polokwane in South Africa’s northern Limpopo province last year. Their bodies were then alleged to have been given to pigs in an apparent attempt to dispose of the evidence. Mr De Wet, 20, turned state witness when the trial started on Monday and says farm…
AFRICAN leaders, on Monday, resolved to have one Africa-led peace initiative for the conflict in eastern Congo. The Co-Chairs of the Joint EAC-SADC Summit President William Ruto of Kenya and President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe resolved on Friday to have one Africa-led peace initiative for the conflict in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). During a meeting with representatives from the African Union and member states to discuss the security crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, William Ruto of Kenya and President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe led resolutions to merge the mediation and secretariat structures of the EAC…
A PALESTINIAN teenager, shot in the eye by Israeli forces while desperately seeking food for his family near a United States and Israeli-backed GHF site in Gaza, is unlikely to regain sight in his left eye, doctors treating him have said, as the population of the besieged and bombarded enclave suffers from forced starvation. Fifteen-year-old Abdul Rahman Abu Jazar told Al Jazeera that Israeli soldiers kept shooting at him even after he was struck by a bullet, making him think “this was the end” and “death was near”. Relaying the harrowing chain of events from a hospital bed with a…
A VOLCANO erupted for the first time in 450 years in Russia’s eastern Kamchatka region, the nation’s emergency authority said Sunday, days after one of the strongest earthquakes on record hit the region. Pictures released by Russian state media show a towering plume of ash spewing from the Krasheninnikov volcano, which last erupted in 1550, according to the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program. The plume is estimated to have reached an altitude of 6,000 metres (19,700 feet), Kamchatka’s Ministry of Emergency Situations said in a post on Telegram. “The plume is spreading eastward from the volcano toward the Pacific Ocean.…
AT least 68 African refugees and migrants have died and 74 others remain missing after a boat capsized off the coast of Yemen, according to the United Nations migration agency. Abdusattor Esoev, head of the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Yemen, told The Associated Press news agency on Sunday that the boat, with 154 Ethiopians aboard, capsized off Yemen’s province of Abyan. Twelve people survived the shipwreck, he said, adding that the bodies of 54 refugees and migrants washed ashore in the district of Khanfar and 14 others were found dead at a different location and taken to…
AMINA Bouayach, President of Morocco’s National Human Rights Council (CNDH), has earned recognition on Pour Elle’s 2025 list of “50 Inspiring African Women.” In the 2025 list, Bouayach features along with nine other inspiring African activist women and has been selected for her dedication to defending human rights, equality, and social justice throughout her career in Morocco. The African media platform “Pour Elle” focuses on women’s and girls’ issues across Africa. This year’s honorees list marks International African Women’s Day 2025. The platform has a mission of celebrating prominent African women who leave lasting impacts on their communities and the…
NIGERIA’s D’Tigress overcame a resilient Senegal to reach the final of the 2025 Women’s Afrobasket for the fifth time in a row. The Nigerians won 75-68 in a hotly-contested game, rightly dubbed “final before the final” at the Palais des Sports de Treichville in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. Senegal led by 8 points at the beginning of the 4th quarter. However, Rena Wakama’s ladies proved their mettle, overpowering the silver medalists in the last AfroBasket by 7pts. Senegal’s Cierra Dillard was her team’s best player on the night, with 26 points, seven rebounds, and three assists, helping them outscore Nigeria 21-9…
MANCHESTER United are prepared to sell striker Rasmus Hojlund for £30m. The Denmark striker scored twice against Bournemouth in Chicago on Wednesday. Immediately after the game he sought out waiting journalists to say his intention was to remain at United despite their ongoing interest in signing RB Leipzig’s Slovenia forward Benjamin Sesko. However, the situation is not quite so straightforward. Newcastle are also keen on Sesko but are yet to strike a deal with RB Leipzig for the 22-year-old. United are waiting to decide their next move and there have been reports that the player would prefer to switch to…