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RUSSIA has launched 479 drones against Ukraine in the biggest overnight drone bombardment of the three-year war, according to the Ukrainian air force. The air force said early on Monday that it had downed 460 drones as well as 19 missiles launched overnight. Russia’s continued to step up its drone and missile attacks on Ukraine, despite declaring, under pressure from United States President Donald Trump, that it is interested in pursuing peace talks. The record launch came just ahead of the start of a prisoner swap agreed at recent talks between the pair. Of the hundreds of projectiles fired at…

DOZENS of activists have staged a protest outside a mortuary in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, following the death of a 31-year-old man in police custody. Albert Omondi Ojwang’s death has sparked outrage in Kenya. He was arrested following a complaint by the deputy police chief, who accused him of tarnishing his name on social media. In an initial statement, police said that Mr Ojwang “sustained head injuries after hitting his head against a cell wall” while in custody. However, the Ojwang family’s lawyer, Julius Juma, said the body bore signs of severe physical trauma, including swelling on the head, nose and…

LIBERIA’s former speaker and three other members of the House of Representatives have been released from prison after paying a bond of £325,000 ($440,000). Jonathan Fonati Koffa, Abu Kamara, Dixon Seboe and Jacob Debee were charged over their alleged role in the burning of the Capitol building last December. All four men face several charges, including arson, criminal mischief, attempted murder and other alleged offences. The huge blaze broke out at the parliament building a day after plans to remove Koffa as speaker sparked protests in the capital, Monrovia. Police value the damage at $8.6m. On Friday, Liberian police said…

PORTUGAL beat neighbours Spain in a penalty shootout to settle a frantic final in Munich and win their second Nations League trophy. Cristiano Ronaldo pulled Portugal level at 2-2 in the 61st minute, but there was nothing else to separate the two sides when the referee signalled the end of normal time. Subbed off before extra time, Portugal captain Ronaldo dropped to the turf and sobbed tears of joy on the sidelines after Ruben Neves slotted home the winning penalty following Diogo Costa’s save from Alvaro Morata’s spot-kick. Winners of the 2023 edition, Spain had opened the scoring in the…

IRANIAN Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib has said sensitive Israeli documents related to its nuclear facilities, its relationship with the United States, Europe and other countries, as well as its defensive capabilities, will be unveiled soon. Khatib told state TV on Sunday that the documents obtained by Tehran were a “treasure trove” capable of strengthening the nation’s offensive posture, but he did not provide any immediate evidence. The Israeli government, which has never revealed details about its nuclear arsenal, said to comprise substantial atomic weapons, making it the only country in the Middle East with nuclear bombs, has not yet commented…

DONALD Trump ordered 2,000 National Guard troops to the streets of Los Angeles on Saturday in what the White House said was an effort to quell “lawlessness” after sometimes-violent protests erupted over immigration enforcement raids. The US president took federal control of California’s state military to push soldiers into the country’s second-biggest city, where they could face off against demonstrators. It is a rare move that Governor Gavin Newsom said was “purposefully inflammatory.” The development came after two days of confrontations that had seen federal agents shoot flash-bang grenades and tear gas towards crowds angry at the arrests of dozens…

A SENIOR British soldier in Kenya has been arrested on rape allegations, the UK defence ministry said Sunday, confirming a BBC report. “We can confirm the arrest of a service person in Kenya,” a ministry spokesperson told AFP, adding that no further comment would be made while the matter was being investigated. The BBC reported that the alleged rape happened last month in Nanyuki, a town north of Nairobi close to where a large British base is located. According to the BBC report, the soldier who has been arrested went to a Nanyuki bar with fellow soldiers before the alleged…

RWANDA has pulled out of Central Africa’s main economic bloc, accusing the organisation of siding with the Democratic Republic of Congo amid ongoing fighting in eastern DRC. The move came after leaders of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) extended Equatorial Guinea’s presidency of the organisation for another year on Saturday, bypassing Rwanda, which had been next in line for the rotating post. M23 rebels, who UN and US experts say are backed by Rwanda, have seized key towns and swathes of territory in eastern DRC since January in fighting that has killed thousands. An ECCAS commissioner, speaking…

PORTUGAL captain Cristiano Ronaldo acknowledged he was “another generation” to Spain starlet Lamine Yamal but said Sunday’s Nations League final was more than just a battle between the duo. The final in Munich has been framed as a showdown between veteran Ronaldo, 40, one of the game’s biggest names, and 17-year-old Yamal, the most exciting young talent in world football. Ronaldo scored the winner to send Portugal past Germany into the final and Yamal was named man-of-the-match after bagging a brace in Spain’s wild 5-4 semi-final win over France. Ronaldo however said the focus on the two individuals was overblown,…

THOUSANDS of Israeli protesters in Tel Aviv have again called for the return of captives held in Gaza and an immediate ceasefire, while hundreds of thousands of pro-Palestine supporters gathered in Rome denouncing the Italian government’s “complicity” in the war. Captive families and antigovernment protesters gathered in front of Israel’s army headquarters on Saturday, several hours after Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that Israeli forces had recovered the body of a Thai captive. In a statement, the Israeli army said on Saturday morning that the body of Nattapong Pinta was retrieved from the Rafah area in southern Gaza after…

US President Donald Trump threatened his former advisor Elon Musk with “serious consequences” Saturday if the tech billionaire seeks to punish Republicans who vote for a controversial spending bill. The comments by Trump to NBC News come after the relationship between the world’s most powerful person and the world’s richest imploded in bitter and spectacular fashion this week. The blistering break-up — largely carried out on social media before a riveted public on Thursday — was ignited by Musk’s harsh criticism of Trump’s so-called “big, beautiful” spending bill, which is currently before Congress. Some lawmakers who were against the bill…

ZAMBIA on Saturday declared seven days of national mourning in honour of the country’s former president Edgar Lungu, who died in South Africa on Thursday, the government said. Lungu, who died at the age of 68, ruled the large but sparsely populated southern African nation from January 2015 until August 2021, when he lost to current President Hakainde Hichilema. “The government of the republic of Zambia wishes to inform the nation that President Hakainde Hichilema has accorded a state funeral to the sixth president, Edgar Lungu, who died on 5 June,” said the secretary to the cabinet, Patrick Kangwa. The…

LIBERIA’s former speaker of parliament has been charged with arson over a fire which destroyed the nation’s House of Representatives, local police have said. The huge blaze broke out last December, a day after plans to remove Jonathan Fonati Koffa from his role as speaker sparked protests in the capital, Monrovia. Koffa had been locked in a stand-off with his political opponents, with dozens of lawmakers voting for his impeachment in October over accusations of poor governance, corruption and conflicts of interest. He has previously denied any connection to the fire breaking out. Police said on Friday that there were…

ON 28 June 2005, the Glazer family completed their takeover of Manchester United Football Club. It loaded the club with debt, and over the next 20 years, BBC Verify has found about £1.2bn has been spent on debt interest, debt repayments, dividends and fees to the family. To fund the deal, the Glazers borrowed millions of pounds from hedge funds and left the club with debts of £604m. One year on, the club had already paid £53.2m in debt interest to its lenders and in fees to the Glazer family. On 22 June 2005, the Glazer family paid £790m to…

THE Israeli military will continue to bomb Lebanon if Hezbollah is not disarmed, Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz has warned, saying “there will be no calm in Beirut” and “no order or stability in Lebanon” unless Israel’s security is assured. “Agreements must be honoured, and if you do not do what is required, we will continue to act, and with great force,” the Israeli minister said in a Friday statement. Israel’s military launched a series of strikes targeting Beirut’s southern suburbs on Thursday night, sending huge numbers of residents fleeing their homes on the eve of the Muslim Eid al-Adha…

MYANMAR authorities have arrested 16 people including a six-year-old girl over the assassination of a retired general shot dead in Yangon last month, state media said. Cho Tun Aung, a former ambassador to Cambodia, was gunned down outside his home on May 22 in an attack claimed by an anti-junta group calling itself the “Golden Valley Warriors”. Myanmar’s military seized power in a 2021 coup, plunging the country into a complex, multi-sided civil war involving pro-democracy guerrillas and resurgent ethnic minority armed groups. Most fighting is confined to the countryside and smaller towns but grenade and gun attacks on junta-linked…

THE Wagner Group has announced it is withdrawing from Mali following what it called “the completion of its main mission” in the West African country. The Russian mercenary group has been operating there since 2021, working with the military to challenge Islamist militants. In a message on its Telegram channel, Wagner said it had “fought terrorism side-by-side with the people of Mali”, killing “thousands of militants and their commanders, who terrorised civilians for years”. The withdrawal announcement comes the same day as reports that Malian soldiers had pulled out from a major base in the centre of the country, after…

GHANA’s former finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta has been placed on Interpol’s red notice list for allegedly using public office for personal gain. This comes after Ghanaian prosecutors declared him a wanted person as well as a fugitive from justice, as he was outside the country, over his alleged involvement in several corruption cases when he was in government. A red notice is not an arrest warrant but a request to police worldwide to detain someone pending extradition. Ofori-Atta, who is said to be out of the country for medical reasons, has not commented on the allegations, but he has said…

LAMINE Yamal scored twice as Spain produced a superb display to beat France in a nine-goal thriller and set up a Nations League final with Portugal. The 17-year-old Barcelona forward, one of the contenders to win the Ballon d’Or for the best player in the world this season, helped his side into 4-0 and 5-1 leads in Stuttgart. But they were nearly pegged back as France staged a thrilling fightback, scoring three times in the last 11 minutes in a desperate attempt to take the game into extra time. But Spain held on and they will face Portugal in the…

ISRAEL’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the country is using armed gangs in Gaza to help fight Hamas, his admission coming after a new wave of military strikes on the besieged Gaza Strip that left at least 52 Palestinians dead. Netanyahu said the government had “activated” powerful local clans in the enclave on the advice of “security officials”, his video statement posted to X on Thursday coming hours after former Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman accused him of deploying the tactic. The statement marked the government’s first public acknowledgement that it had backed the armed Palestinian groups based around powerful…