Author: Editor

ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is seizing areas to dissect Gaza Strip further, after defence minister says military will “capture extensive territory” to be added to “buffer zones”. The announcement comes as the death toll from Israel’s relentless bombardment of Gaza rises to at least 77 since dawn. More than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed since Israel broke the truce last month. In a statement, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Palestinian civilians would be ordered to evacuate areas where fighting is ongoing. He urged residents to take action against Hamas and secure the release of Israeli captives…

MYANMAR’s governing military has declared a unilateral, temporary ceasefire in the country’s civil war to facilitate rescue efforts after last week’s powerful earthquake, as state television reported the death toll from the disaster had surpassed 3,000. MRTV said that the truce would last from Wednesday until April 22 and was aimed at making quake relief efforts easier. The announcement followed unilateral temporary ceasefires announced by armed resistance groups opposed to military rule. Those groups must refrain from attacking the state, or regrouping, or else the military will take “necessary” measures, the army said in a statement. The death toll from…

AFTER spending eight years in jail, a Nigerian televangelist accused of raping young women from his South African church has been found not guilty of all charges. Timothy Omotoso had denied the 32 charges in a trial that was broadcast live and gained huge interest across the country. In 2018, one witness told the court she had been raped by the pastor – who ran a church in the city of Port Elizabeth – when she was 14 years old. When delivering the verdict on Wednesday, the judge presiding over the trial said that Mr Omotoso had been found not…

NIGER’s military leaders have released more than 50 detainees, including former ministers in the government they toppled in 2023. Among them are the former ministers of defence, oil and finance, as well as several senior army officers, convicted or accused of plotting previous coups. Ousted President Mohamed Bazoum, who has been under house arrest since the 2023 military takeover, was not on the list of those released despite international calls for him to be freed. When the BBC asked about President Bazoum’s continued detention, Justice Minister Aliyou Daouda cited “national security and sovereignty” concerns. “The question of his release is…

BRIGADIER-GENERAL Maharazu Tsiga (rtd) has regained his freedom after spending 56 days in captivity. This newspaer had reported how the former Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) was abducted from his hometown in Bakori local government area (LGA) of Katsina state, on February 5, 2025. He was kidnapped alongside nine other residents. However, after payment of ransom by his family, his abductors still held him captive for weeks. There were conflicting figures regarding the ransom paid earlier. While some claimed the sum of N60m was paid, this newspaper reliably learnt that the actual money paid for his release…

THE Confederation of African Football (CAF) has ordered a replay of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier between Cameroon and Kenya over match-fixing allegations The match, originally played on October 16, 2024, in Yaoundé, has been deemed compromised due to irregularities identified by FIFA’s Integrity and Compliance Unit. In a statement signed by CAF Integrity Officer Marjan Marjan and addressed to the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) General Secretary on April 1, 2025, CAF detailed the findings of a forensic review of match footage and intelligence reports from global sports integrity monitoring agencies. The investigation pointed to potential instances…

THE United Nations on Tuesday dismissed as “ridiculous” an assertion by Israel that there was enough food in the Gaza Strip to last for a long period of time, despite the closure of all 25 bakeries in the enclave supported by the World Food Programme. No aid has been delivered to the Palestinian enclave since March 2. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has said it would not allow the entry of all goods and supplies into Gaza until Hamas releases all remaining hostages. Then later in March Israel resumed its bombardment of Gaza after a two-month truce and sent…

THE United States said Tuesday it has approved a sale of $5.58 billion in F-16 fighter jets to the Philippines, as Washington backs its ally in rising tensions over China. The State Department said it was green-lighting the sale that includes 20 F-16 jets and related equipment to the Philippines, a treaty-bound ally of the United States. The sale will “improve the security of a strategic partner that continues to be an important force for political stability, peace and economic progress in Southeast Asia,” a State Department statement said. The sale will boost “the Philippine Air Force’s ability to conduct…

ZIMBABWEAN authorities remanded in custody Tuesday 98 people arrested for taking part in demonstrations called to demand that President Emmerson Mnangagwa leave power. The men and women were rounded up in the capital Harare during small-scale demonstrations on Monday and a ruling on their bail is due on April 10, the courts said. A one-time veteran of the ruling ZANU-PF party called the day of protest to reject moves to keep Mnangagwa, 82, in power beyond the end of his term in 2028. Most of the 98 people in custody were among around 200 who gathered at Harare’s Freedom Square…

ZAMBIAN President Hakainde Hichilema has warned ministers against dozing off during meetings, attributing their lack of attentiveness to “indulgence” and an absence of self-control. “In cabinet somebody’s sleeping at 10 hours – the question is where were they… if you can start conking there? To me that is a crime, a serous crime,” Hichilema said during a swearing-in ceremony for a new minister. He did not spell out what exactly he meant by “indulgence” but local media have interpreted this as referring to excessive alcohol drinking and late-night partying. The president warned that such behaviour risked exposing state secrets and…

REAL Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said Monday superstar striker Kylian Mbappe is capable of becoming a legend at the club like all-time top goalscorer Cristiano Ronaldo. Mbappe idolised Ronaldo while growing up and after joining Madrid from Paris Saint-Germain last summer, has equalled the Portuguese striker’s tally of 33 goals in his first season at the Santiago Bernabeu. “What I wish for Mbappe is that he is capable of achieving what Ronaldo did at Real Madrid — and I think that he can do it,” Ancelotti told a news conference. “That means he will be a legend at Real Madrid,…

ISRAEL has announced new forced evacuation orders for Rafah in southern Gaza, as the military said it plans to expand its renewed assault on the enclave. The military’s Arabic language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, announced on X on Monday morning that the army was returning to “fight with great force” in Rafah, one of Gaza’s largest cities, and surrounding areas. He called on Palestinians to immediately move to shelter in al-Mawasi on the coast. The area has regularly come under Israeli fire during the war in Gaza, despite being designated as a “safe zone”. Shortly after the evacuation order, Al Jazeera…

FRENCH antitrust authorities handed Apple a 150-million-euro ($162-million) fine on Monday over its app tracking privacy feature, which is also under scrutiny in several other European countries. The watchdog said the way Apple implemented its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) software was “neither necessary nor proportionate to the company’s stated goal to protect user data” and also penalised third-party publishers. In addition to the fine, Apple will have to publish the decision on its website for seven days. Authorities in Germany, Italy, Romania and Poland have opened similar probes over ATT, which Apple promotes as a privacy safeguard. The fine is…

POLICE were out in force and businesses and offices closed in key Zimbabwe cities after authorities warned against demonstrations called for Monday to demand that President Emmerson Mnangagwa leave power. Security forces patrolled city centres after warning people to ignore a call by a faction of Mnangagwa’s own ZANU-PF party to demonstrate against the president, who took power in a coup eight years ago. A small group of people tried to assemble at President Robert Mugabe Square in the capital Harare but were dispersed by police, videos on social media showed. “It was announced as a peaceful march but the…

THE head of the junta in Burkina Faso has pardoned 21 soldiers convicted of involvement in a failed coup in 2015, according to an official decree seen by AFP on Monday. The troubled west African country has been run since September 2022 by military leaders following a coup headed by Captain Ibrahim Traore. Traore announced an “amnesty pardon” in December last year for several people convicted over the 2015 attempt to overthrow the transitional government in place after the fall of former president Blaise Compaore. “The following persons, who have been convicted or prosecuted before the courts for acts committed…

AFTER fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They will face title-holders Al Ahly of Egypt in Cairo on Tuesday, with the return match in Mauritanian capital Nouakchott on April 8. Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force in the country. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the United…

ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to visit Hungary this week, despite an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant issued over alleged war crimes in Gaza. Netanyahu’s trip, announced on Sunday by his office, comes at the invitation of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The visit, scheduled from Wednesday to Sunday, comes as Orban has dismissed the warrant when it was announced in November. Orban, a right-wing nationalist leader often at odds with the European Union over democratic norms, has made clear that Hungary will not enforce the ICC’s decision. According to The Times of Israel, Netanyahu will use…

US President Donald Trump said Sunday he was “very angry, pissed off” with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, NBC reported, marking a sharp change of tone as Washington seeks to end the war in Ukraine. NBC’s Kristen Welker said Trump had called her to express his fury over Putin questioning Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s future as a leader — something that Trump himself has done. Welker, on her NBC show “Meet The Press” on Sunday, quoted directly from an early-morning telephone conversation with the president. “If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine,…

ZIMBABWE’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa has appointed a new army chief ahead of planned protests on Monday, called by a group of war veterans who want to force the president to resign. The former major general, Emmanuel Matatu, takes over with immediate effect. President Mnangagwa has faced calls from his former supporters to step down citing mismanagement and corruption. Earlier this week Mnangagwa abruptly retired his army chief, Lt Gen Anselem Sanyatwe, appointing him sports, arts and culture minister. Hailing from Mnangagwa’s home province of Midlands, Matatu, reportedly 72 years old, is not a well-known figure but his profile and age…

SOMALIA’s breakaway region of Somaliland has rejected an attempt by the central government to give the US exclusive control of a port and airbase in Berbera. The city lies on the strategic Gulf of Aden, on the northern coast of Somaliland. The territory, which declared independence in 1991 as Somalia descended into civil war, says the facilities are not Mogadishu’s to give away. In a letter to US President Donald Trump, seen by Reuters news agency, Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud also offered port and airbase within Somalia, saying all four would strengthen US security operations. Somaliland’s Foreign Affairs Minister…