LAGOS – Nigerian police on Tuesday made an about-turn, admitting that gunmen had abducted dozens of worshippers during Sunday mass in northern Kaduna state after dismissing the initial reports. A senior Christian clergy and a village head had on Monday told AFP that more than 160 people were snatched from several churches on Sunday. A...
LILONGWE – A catastrophic collapse of healthcare services in Malawi, a year after US funding cuts, is undoing a decade of progress against HIV/AIDS, providers warn, leaving some of the most vulnerable feeling like “living dead.” In the impoverished southern African country, the US government’s decision to slash foreign aid in January 2025 has led...
GENEVA – Severe flooding in Mozambique has triggered a rapidly escalating emergency that is already affecting more than half a million people, the United Nations warned on Tuesday. “The numbers keep rising as extensive flooding continues and dams keep releasing water to avoid bursting,” said Paola Emerson, head of Mozambique operations at the UN humanitarian...
KARIWA – The world’s biggest nuclear power plant was restarted yesterday for the first time since the 2011 Fukushima disaster, its Japanese operator said, despite persistent safety concerns among residents. The governor of Niigata province, where the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant is located, approved its resumption last month, although public opinion remains sharply divided. After receiving the...
DAVOS – Iran’s foreign minister will not be attending the Davos summit in Switzerland this week, the organisers said yesterday, stressing it would not be “right” after the recent deadly crackdown on protesters in Iran. Abbas Araghchi had been scheduled to speak on Tuesday during the annual gathering of the global elite at the upscale...
ADAMUZ – Officials in Spain said the death toll from a high-speed train collision in the south of the country, currently at 39, could rise further, with rescuers at work on the mangled wreckage. It is already Spain’s deadliest train accident since 2013, when 80 people died after a train veered off a curved section...
BANGUI – The president of the Central African Republic Faustin Archange Touadera won a third term in last month’s election with 78% of the vote, the constitutional court said yesterday, announcing final results. His main opponent, Anicet-George Dologuele, who had appealed the provisional results complaining of fraud, won 13.5%, it said, saying the appeal had...
KAMPALA – Uganda’ president Yoweri Museveni admitted even he had problems voting as technical issues disrupted yesterday’s election, in which he hopes to extend his 40-year rule, amid an internet blackout and a police crackdown. Museveni (81) is widely expected to win a seventh term in office thanks to his total control of the state...
The reason is unclear, but Ukraine’s supporters entered last week’s Paris meeting of the so-called coalition of the willing in a state of near euphoria. Fresh from the spectacle in Venezuela, they convinced themselves that Donald Trump could be persuaded to do far more than merely endorse Western Europe’s line. Some seriously expected American troops...
DUBAI – Iran’s deadly crackdown on protesters and US warnings of intervention are being closely watched by neighbouring countries in the Middle East. Here is how the crisis is regarded by some of the region’s key players: Iran’s long-time foe Israel has openly backed the protesters and expressed optimism about possible regime change, without suggesting...