LIBREVILLE – Gabon’s ex-president Ali Bongo Ondimba, who was overthrown in a coup last year, has said he is withdrawing from political life and asked for clemency for his imprisoned wife and son, who he said face “violence” and “torture”. Bongo ruled the oil-rich West African nation for 14 years until he was overthrown by...
PARIS – The main Al-Qaeda-affiliated jihadist group in Mali struck a forceful blow to the ruling junta when it hit highly sensitive military targets in the capital Bamako, underscoring its two-pronged strategy of territorial expansion and harassment, experts say. Targeting a military police barracks and a military airport, the Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM)...
KYIV – Russia’s counter-offensive to retake territory captured by Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region has been “stopped”, a spokesman from Ukraine’s military administration set up in the area told AFP yesterday.Russia earlier this month said it had seized several villages back from Ukraine in the Kursk region, where Kyiv has held on to swathes...
GENEVA – The world remains far off track in tackling the climate crisis, but the UN voiced hope yesterday that artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge technologies will help address the towering challenges. In a new report, the United Nations warned the goals laid out in the 2015 Paris climate accord, aiming to keep global temperature...
VIENNA – The death toll has risen to 19 in the extreme weather and flooding let loose by storm Boris in central Europe, authorities said yesterday after a new victim was reported in Austria.High winds and unusually heavy rainfall have hit swathes of Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia since Friday. An...
DOHA – Qatar’s foreign ministry said yesterday efforts to forge a Gaza truce were “ongoing”, after several rounds of talks aimed at ending the now 11-month war ended without a breakthrough. “The efforts are still ongoing, and channels of communication remain open… the goals and visits and meetings are ongoing,” ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari told...
President Mokgweetsi Masisi stated that borders are artificial and emphasised that the institutions of Botswana and Namibia should collaborate for the benefit of both countries people. The head of state said this today while bidding farewell to Asser Kapere, High Commissioner of Namibia to Botswana.
SHANGHAI – Tens of millions of people in Shanghai and across China’s densely-populated east coast hunkered indoors yesterday as the strongest typhoon to hit since 1949 swept in, downing trees and disrupting transport across the region. Typhoon Bebinca — the fiercest storm to hit the megacity since Gloria 75 years ago — landed early yesterday...
WASHINGTON – Kamala Harris and Donald Trump yesterday headed into a newly-intense phase of the US presidential campaign, with tensions heightened after a second apparent assassination attempt against the Republican former president.The Sunday arrest of a gunman on Donald Trump’s golf course came the same day as more bomb threats poured into Springfield, Ohio, a...
KAMPALA – Ugandan Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei, who died after allegedly being set on fire by her former boyfriend in Kenya, was laid to rest at her ancestral home in Bukwo in eastern Uganda on Saturday. Cheptegei, who finished 44th in the women’s marathon at the 2024 Paris Olympics and served as a sergeant in the...