N’DJAMENA – Chad president Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno has removed several high-ranking defence and security officials from their posts, days after dismissing the security minister. A presidential decree declared late on Wednesday the director generals of both the police and military police, the chiefs of general staff of the armed forces as well as the...
BEIRUT – Lebanese data scientist and volunteer rescue worker Bachir Nakhal started a crowdfunding effort to buy new ambulances for south Lebanon months ago, fearing Israel’s war in Gaza could spread to his country. But weeks into Israel’s war with Hezbollah, his worst fears came true when an ambulance he had helped purchase was bombed.“We...
BEIRUT – Lebanon said six people were killed in Israeli strikes yesterday on municipality buildings in the southern city of Nabatiyeh, where Hezbollah and ally Amal hold sway, with an official saying the mayor was among the dead. The attacks were among 11 strikes on Nabatiyeh city and its surroundings that created “a kind of...
BENGALURU – An Indian passenger aircraft was diverted yesterday after the latest in a string of hoax bomb threats made to airline companies involving the country. The Akasa Air flight, which was flying from India’s capital New Delhi to the southern city of Bengaluru, “received a security alert” and the flight was ordered to return...
NAIROBI – Kenya’s Senate yesterday launched the impeachment trial of deputy president Rigathi Gachagua after the embattled politician lost yet another court bid to stop the process. In a historic move last week, the lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, voted overwhelmingly to impeach Gachagua on 11 charges, including corruption and abuse of office....
STOCKHOLM – Swedish prosecutors confirmed yesterday a rape probe following media reports that French footballer Kylian Mbappe was being investigated after a visit toStockholm, but did not name the suspect. On Monday, Swedish newspapers Aftonbladet and Expressen reported that a rape investigation had been opened following Mbappe’s two-day visit to the Nordic capital. “In response...
JERUSALEM – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said yesterday that Israel – and not the United States — will decide how it will strike back after Iran fired around 200 missiles at his country earlier this month. The comments came as a top Iranian commander, whose absence sparked rumours that he could have been killed...
JERUSALEM – Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant told his United States counterpart Lloyd Austin that Israel would deliver a strong response to Hezbollah after the Lebanese armed group struck an Israeli army base, killing four soldiers. Gallant spoke to Austin overnight, and “highlighted the severity of the attack, and the forceful response that would be...
Johannesburg – Veteran politician Tito Mboweni, a former anti-apartheid activist who won praise for his fiscal prudence and for shaping the country’s labour laws, died on Saturday aged 65, the government has announced. “President Ramaphosa offers his condolences to the family and friends of Dr Mboweni, who passed away following a short illness,” the presidency...
PARIS – The burgeoning alliance between Iran and Russia, which has already seen Tehran assist Moscow in its war against Ukraine, is increasingly troubling the West as tensions reach new highs in the Middle East. The Islamic republic and Russia have in the last months put aside centuries of regional rivalry going back to the...