JOHANNESBURG – Power was cut to large parts of South Africa yesterday as the national energy provider announced days of rolling power blackouts in Africa’s most industrialised nation. The early morning announcement was a surprise after positive statements from Eskom suggesting years of crippling power cuts of sometimes up to 12 hours a day may...
WASHINGTON – Elon Musk, the billionaire advisor to Donald Trump, said Saturday that all US federal employees must justify their work or lose their jobs, hours after the president pushed him to be “more aggressive” in slashing government spending. Musk — the world’s richest person and Trump’s biggest donor — has led the effort to...
PARIS – Iran executed at least 975 people last year in a “horrifying escalation” of its use of capital punishment, two human rights groups said yesterday. Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and French group Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) said the figure was the highest since IHR began recording executions in Iran in 2008....
NAIROBI – Kenya was condemned by Sudan and critics at home as “criminally irresponsible” yesterday for hosting Sudanese paramilitary rebels who are to declare a parallel government. The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, at war with the Sudanese army for nearly two years, are preparing to declare a government in territories under their control during an...
CONAKRY – A leading opposition figure in Guinea was apprehended by “masked men” and taken from his home yesterday morning, sources close to his family said. Abdoul Sacko is part of a coalition known as the Forum of Active Forces made up of the main parties, trade unions and NGOs who are calling for power...
PALM BEACH – United States’ president Donald Trump on Tuesday moved to increase access to in vitro fertilisation (IVF), a move likely to be welcomed by many Americans, but which risks a backlash from conservatives and the religious right. The Republican leader signed an executive order giving his advisors 90 days to find recommendations for...
PORT SUDAN – Sudanese paramilitaries have killed more than 200 people, including women and children, in a three-day assault on villages in the country’s south, a lawyer group monitoring the war said yesterday. The Emergency Lawyers group, which documents rights abuses, said the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces attacked unarmed civilians in the villages of Al-Kadaris...
KFAR KILA – Israeli troops withdrew from all but five points in south Lebanon yesterday, allowing displaced residents to return to border villages largely destroyed in more than a year of hostilities. “The entire village has been reduced to rubble. It’s a disaster zone,” said Alaa al-Zein, back in Kfar Kila after the delayed withdrawal...
WASHINGTON – Elon Musk is not an official employee of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and has “no formal authority to make government decisions”, according to a White House court filing. The world’s ri chest man is widely seen as the defacto head of DOGE, created by US president Donald Trump, which has sought...
GENEVA – The UN appealed yesterday for US$6 billion to provide desperately-needed aid to people in war-ravaged Sudan and millions of refugees fleeing “appalling” conditions. The aim is to provide assistance to nearly 26 million people this year, the United Nations’ humanitarian agency OCHA and refugee agency UNHCR said in a joint appeal. Since April...