US President Donald Trump threatened to cut off government contracts with billionaire Elon Musk’s companies, and Musk suggested Trump should be impeached, as the bromance between the president and his former adviser disintegrated into a barroom brawl. Trump started the feud in remarks from the Oval Office. Musk quickly responded with posts on his social media site X, and within hours both were trading barbs on their respective social media platforms. “The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social. Their…
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THE central African nation of Chad says it is suspending all visas to US citizens as a matter of “reciprocity”, after learning that it is one of a dozen countries whose nationals are banned from travelling to the US. “Chad has neither planes to offer nor billions of dollars to give, but Chad has its dignity and pride,” continued President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno in a Facebook post (in French) on Thursday. Africa is the continent worst affected by the travel ban announced by US President Donald Trump, with seven of the 12 countries on the list. It is set…
TANZANIA has decided to block access to social media platform X because it allows pornographic content to be shared, the information minister has said. The content was contrary to the East African state’s “laws, culture, customs, and traditions,” Jerry Silaa told a local TV station. Tanzanians have reported that access to X has been restricted in the last two weeks after political tensions rose and the police account was hacked, but there has not yet been a total shutdown of the platform. A Tanzanian rights group posted on X that Silaa’s comments reflected a “troubling pattern of digital repression” ahead…
CHELSEA beat off competition from Premier League rivals to sign English striker Liam Delap from Ipswich on Wednesday for a reported fee of £30 million ($41 million) Delap, 22, scored 12 Premier League goals during his sole season at Portman Road but could not prevent Ipswich making an immediate return to the Championship. Manchester United and Everton were also reportedly willing to meet the buyout clause in the England under-21 international’s contract. But Chelsea have won the race for the former Manchester City forward, bolstering their attacking options ahead of the Club World Cup in the United States, starting later…
THE United Nations Security Council is set to vote on a resolution calling for a ceasefire and humanitarian access to Gaza, a measure expected to be vetoed by the United States. At least 95 Palestinians have been killed and 440 injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza in the past 24 hours, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry. Israel’s military has warned starving Palestinians in Gaza against approaching roads to the US-backed aid distribution sites run by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which will be closed for a whole day for “renovation, reorganisation and efficiency improvement work”. Meanwhile, Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson…
IRANIAN Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has pledged that Tehran will not abandon its uranium enrichment, rejecting a key demand in a United States proposal aimed at resolving a long-running dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme. The comments were delivered in a speech on Wednesday as the US and Iran continue to negotiate the details of a possible new nuclear deal. The issue of uranium enrichment has remained a sticking point in the talks, with the US reportedly demanding a complete halt or low-level enrichment in exchange for the lifting of Western sanctions against Tehran. “The US nuclear proposal contradicts our…
THE United Nations has raised grave concerns following the discovery of dozens of bodies in areas of the Libyan capital Tripoli previously controlled by a powerful militia, the Stabilisation Support Apparatus (SSA), whose leader was slain in clashes last month. United Nations rights chief Volker Turk said on Wednesday that his office was “shocked” by evidence of severe human rights violations at detention sites run by the SSA, a group once led by Abdel-Ghani al-Kikli, who was killed during an eruption of fighting in mid-May in Tripoli. “Our worst-held fears are being confirmed: dozens of bodies have been discovered at…
THE international community must pressure Tanzania to investigate police officers accused of sexually torturing Kenyan and Ugandan activists last month, a rights coalition in Kenya said on Tuesday. Boniface Mwangi and Agather Atuhaire were detained in Tanzania’s business capital Dar es Salaam between May 19 and 23 when they attempted to attend the trial of opposition leader Tundu Lissu, who is charged with treason and faces a potential death penalty. They have both detailed torture and sexual abuse by the police officers who detained them. Ugandan activist, lawyer, and journalist Agather Atuhaire displays bruises and scars on her arms after…
BRUNO Fernandes has reportedly rejected a huge offer to leave Manchester United for the Saudi Pro League, opting to be part of Ruben Amorim’s rebuild at Old Trafford. Reports said Al Hilal were willing to pay United up to £100 million ($135 million) for the 30-year-old Portugal international but had not made an official approach. United endured their worst finish of the Premier League era, finishing 15th. They also lost the Europa League final to Tottenham. United captain Fernandes was one of the few players to emerge with credit from a disastrous season, scoring 19 goals and making 19 assists…
ISRAELI forces have killed at least 27 Palestinians and injured 90 more as they opened fire close to an aid distribution site in Rafah, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. The latest killings came early on Tuesday at the Flag Roundabout, near an aid hub operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). It was the third such incident around the Rafah hub in as many days. Gaza’s authorities report that more than 100 aid seekers have been killed since the United States- and Israel-backed GHF started operating in the enclave on May 27, with reports of violence, looting…
SAUDI authorities have asked pilgrims performing the hajj to remain in their tents for several hours during the high point of this week’s pilgrimage, citing high temperatures. According to a report in Saudi media, Hajj Minister Tawfiq al-Rabiah has requested that pilgrims refrain from leaving their tents between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm on Thursday. The “Day of Arafat” traditionally marks the high point of the hajj, when pilgrims scale Mount Arafat on the outskirts of Mecca. There, pilgrims assemble on the 70-metre (230-foot) high hill and its surrounding plain for hours of prayer and Koran recital, staying there until…
TWO suspected Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels, including a female suicide bomber, were killed in an explosion near a prominent Catholic shrine in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, as crowds gathered to mark Martyrs’ Day. The blast on Tuesday took place in the upscale suburb of Munyonyo, outside the Munyonyo Martyrs’ Shrine, where Ugandans were assembling to commemorate 19th-century Christians executed for their faith. No civilian injuries were reported. “A counterterrorism unit this morning intercepted and neutralised two armed terrorists in Munyonyo,” said army spokesman Chris Magezi on X. He confirmed one of the assailants was a female suicide bomber “laden with…
AFTER Sudan’s army recaptured the national capital region of Khartoum in March, tens of thousands of people returned to check on their homes and reunite with loved ones. The joy of returning was tempered by the shock of seeing the damage caused during nearly two years under the control of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group that has been fighting the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), recognised by many Sudanese and the UN as the de facto authority in Sudan, since April 2023. In a region whose hospitals and food and medicine stores had been systematically plundered by the…
BRENTFORD forward Bryan Mbeumo has decided to snub interest from other suitors and complete a move to Manchester United, according to David Ornstein of The Athletic. Bolstering the attacking department was a top priority for Ruben Amorim heading into the summer transfer window, following a toothless season in front of goal. In addition to securing a new striker, United are also believed to be keen on strengthening the number 10 position. On Sunday, the club confirmed the signing of Matheus Cunha from Wolverhampton Wanderers, but their ambitions don’t stop there, with Mbeumo emerging as a top target. Mbeumo enjoyed a…
ISRAELI forces have opened fire again on Palestinians seeking humanitarian aid from a distribution site in Gaza, killing at least three people and injuring more than 30, as the United Nations demands an independent investigation into the repeated mass shootings of aid seekers in the strip. The shooting erupted at sunrise on Monday at the same Israeli-backed aid point in southern Gaza where soldiers had opened fire just a day earlier, according to health officials and witnesses. “The Israeli military opened fire on civilians trying to get their hands on any kind of food aid without any kind of warning,”…
UKRAINE and Russia agreed another large-scale prisoner exchange at talks in Istanbul on Monday, but failed to make a breakthrough on an immediate halt to the fighting. At the second round of direct talks between the warring sides, Ukraine said Moscow had rejected its call for an unconditional ceasefire, offering instead a partial truce of two to three days in some areas of the frontline. Urged on by US President Donald Trump, Moscow and Kyiv have opened direct negotiations for the first time since the early weeks of Russia’s invasion, but have yet to make progress beyond prisoner exchanges and…
THE United Kingdom “considers Morocco’s autonomy proposal, submitted in 2007 as the most credible, viable and pragmatic basis for a lasting resolution of the dispute” over the Moroccan Sahara, and “will continue to act bilaterally, including economically, regionally and internationally in line with this position to support resolution of the conflict”. This position was expressed in a Joint Communiqué signed, Sunday in Rabat, by the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, David Lammy, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, Nasser Bourita. This…
A SOUTH African court opened an inquest Monday into the murders 40 years ago of four anti-apartheid activists by a police hit squad in one of the most notorious atrocities of the apartheid era. No one has been brought to justice for the 1985 killings of the so-called Cradock Four, and their families have accused the post-apartheid government of intervening to block the case from going to trial. Teachers Fort Calata, Matthew Goniwe and Sicelo Mhlauli and railway worker Sparrow Mkonto were abducted and killed while returning home from a political meeting in the southern town of Cradock. “After 40…
TWO people died, hundreds were arrested and cars were set ablaze in France overnight as football fans celebrated Paris Saint-Germain’s stunning Champions League final victory, the interior ministry said on Sunday. The epicentre of the euphoria was in Paris, which was a theatre of car horns, cheers, singing in the street, and fireworks throughout the night following PSG’s 5-0 triumph over Inter Milan in Munich, Germany. The ministry said 491 people were arrested in the capital when crowds converged on the Champs-Elysees avenue and clashes broke out with officers. Across France as a whole, including Paris, a total of 559…
ISRAEL has killed at least 32 Palestinians waiting to get food at two aid distribution sites in Gaza, leaving more than 200 others injured. Israeli tanks opened fire on thousands of civilians gathered at a distribution site in southern Gaza’s Rafah on Sunday morning, killing at least 31 people, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office. Soon after, another person was killed in a shooting at a similar distribution point south of the Netzarim Corridor in Gaza City, said the office’s statement on Telegram. The aid is being distributed by Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a controversial group backed by Israel and…