Mali has announced it is severing diplomatic ties with Ukraine, accusing a senior official of having admitted Kyiv’s role in a heavy defeat in July that killed dozens of mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner group as well as Malian soldiers. The northern Tuareg rebels say they killed at least 84 mercenaries and 47 Malian soldiers over three days of fighting late last month in the north of the West African country, in what appeared to be Wagner’s heaviest defeat since it stepped into the conflict two years ago. On July 29, Andriy Yusov, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (GUR), told the…
Author: KahawaTungu Editor
An Israeli airstrike hit two schools in Gaza City on Sunday, killing at least 30 people, Palestinian officials said, while the Israeli military said it struck a Hamas military compound embedded in the schools. An Israeli airstrike hit a tent camp inside a hospital in central Gaza earlier in the day. Gaza health officials said a total of at least 44 Palestinians were killed on Sunday, the day after a round of talks in Cairo ended without result. Footage circulated on Palestinian media showed bodies scattered inside the yard of one of two blast-wrecked schools as residents rushed to carry casualties, including…
Seven European Union countries, including Italy, France, Germany and Spain have jointly called on the Venezuelan authorities to promptly publish the electoral rolls to ensure full transparency around last weekend’s election, the Italian prime minister’s office said on Saturday. Venezuela’s electoral council has declared President Nicolas Maduro, in power since 2013, the winner of the July 28 election with 51% of the vote, sparking immediate accusations of fraud by the opposition. The opposition says its own detailed tally shows opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez likely received 67% of the vote. The joint statement by the seven EU countries added to a…
An Israeli airstrike on a school sheltering displaced persons in Gaza City killed at least 15 Palestinians on Saturday, hours after two strikes in the occupied West Bank killed nine militants including a local Hamas commander, Hamas said. The Israeli military said the first of two West Bank airstrikes hit a vehicle in a town near the city of Tulkarm, targeting a militant cell it said was on its way to carry out an attack. A Hamas statement said one of those killed was a commander of its Tulkarm brigades, while its ally Islamic Jihad claimed the other four men…
Venezuela’s government accused the U.S. on Friday of being behind what it called a coup attempt, as some regional governments recognized the opposition candidate as the winner of the country’s disputed presidential election. Foreign Minister Yvan Gil said Washington’s recognition of opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez showed it was “at the forefront of a coup attempt.” “Venezuela’s democracy is one of the most robust in the world, no effort to undermine it will be able to do so,” the government said in a statement shared by Gil. On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken recognized Gonzalez as the winner, citing “overwhelming…
Russian assaults are raising pressure on the strategic eastern logistics hub of Pokrovsk, Ukraine said on Friday, as waves of guided bombs and infantry lead to some of Moscow’s largest territorial gains since the spring. The push is fuelling a surge in civilians fleeing, with requests for evacuation in the area increasing about tenfold over the past two weeks, according to a volunteer helping people leave. Russian forces have been steadily inching forward on several fronts in the eastern Donetsk region, staging particularly fierce attacks near Pokrovsk with Kyiv’s troops stretched thin 29 months since Russia’s full-scale invasion. Russia’s gains of…
Nigerian police are on red alert and may seek the help of the military after protests against the cost of living and governance issues turned violent in some cities, the inspector general of police said. At least three protesters were killed in northern Kaduna state on Thursday, Reuters reporters and protesters said. Amnesty International said on Friday at least 13 protesters in total had been killed in three northern states, but the authorities have not commented on any deaths. Some major cities, including the capital Abuja and Kano in the north appeared calm on Friday, a day after police and demonstrators clashed…
U.S. President Joe Biden said on Thursday the killing of Palestinian Islamist group Hamas’ leader Ismail Haniyeh was not helpful for reaching a ceasefire in Israel’s war in Gaza. There has been an increased risk of an escalation into a broader Middle East war after the assassination of Haniyeh in Iran drew threats of retaliation against Israel. Hamas and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards confirmed the death of Haniyeh, who had participated in internationally-brokered indirect talks on reaching a ceasefire in Gaza. Anxious residents in Israeli-besieged Gaza feared that Haniyeh’s killing on Wednesday would prolong the war. Iran said the killing took place hours after he attended a swearing-in…
At least three protesters were killed in Nigeria’s Kaduna state on Thursday, Reuters reporters and eyewitnesses said, as demonstrators rallied across the West African nation against rising cost of living and governance issues. Kaduna state police spokesperson Mansur Hassan said the police fired tear gas at protesters and not live ammunition. Also police fired tear gas in the capital city Abuja to disperse crowds of protesters, according to eyewitness accounts. Protesters demonstrated in Abuja, the commercial capital Lagos and several other cities to show discontent with economic reforms that have led to rampant inflation and inflicted increasing hardship on ordinary Nigerians. President…
Top Iranian officials will meet the representatives of Iran’s regional allies from Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen on Thursday to discuss potential retaliation against Israel after the killing of the Hamas leader in Tehran, five sources told Reuters. The region faces a risk of widened conflict between Israel, Iran and its proxies after Ismail Haniyeh’s assassination in Tehran on Wednesday and the killing of Hezbollah’s senior commander on Tuesday in an Israeli strike on the outskirts of the Lebanese capital Beirut. Representatives of Iran’s Palestinian allies Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, as well as Yemen’s Tehran-backed Houthi movement, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iraqi resistance groups will attend the…
North Korea wants to reopen nuclear talks with the United States if Donald Trump is re-elected as president and is working to devise a new negotiating strategy, a senior North Korean diplomat who recently defected to South Korea told Reuters. The escape of Ri Il Gyu from Cuba made headlines globally last month. He was the highest-ranking North Korean diplomat to defect to the South since 2016. In his first interview with international media, Ri said North Korea has set Russia, the U.S. and Japan as its top foreign policy priorities for this year and beyond. While bolstering relations with Russia, Pyongyang…
Shops and public transport across Venezuela shut down on Wednesday as tensions over a fiercely disputed presidential election and rumors of more opposition arrests and sporadic violence kept many people home. Socialist President Nicolas Maduro, who has ruled since 2013, was proclaimed the winner of the Sunday vote by the electoral council. But the opposition says its tally of about 90% of votes shows that its candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, received more than double the support attracted by Maduro. As the dispute entered its third day amid growing calls for more transparency, the government insisted it had not produced comprehensive vote totals at…
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in the Iranian capital Tehran early on Wednesday morning, an attack that drew threats of revenge on Israel and fuelled further concern that the conflict in Gaza was turning into a wider Middle East war. The Palestinian Islamist militant group and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards confirmed Haniyeh’s death. The Guards said it took place hours after he attended a swearing-in ceremony for Iran’s new president. Although the strike on Haniyeh was widely assumed to have been carried out by Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government made no claim of responsibility and said it would make no…
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in the Iranian capital Tehran early on Wednesday morning, an attack that drew threats of revenge on Israel and fuelled further concern that the conflict in Gaza was turning into a wider Middle East war. The Palestinian militant group and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards confirmed Haniyeh’s death. The Guards said it took place hours after he attended a swearing-in ceremony for Iran’s new president. Although the attack was widely assumed to have been carried out by Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government made no claim of responsibility and said it would not make any comment on the…
A high court in Ghana has blocked civil society groups from holding protests in the capital Accra, one of the organisers said, joining other African governments in trying to quell youth-led demonstrations over the high cost of living. Organisers said the protests would draw over two million people onto the streets to demand more action from President Nana Akufo-Addo on corruption and living conditions, as well as to protest delays in signing an anti-LGBT bill into law. High court Justice Abena Afia Serwaa approved a request by Ghana’s police to ban a handful of organisations from carrying out protests planned…
Thousands of people are stranded on the streets of the eastern Sudanese city of Kassala as a deluge of rain compounds the suffering of more than a million Sudanese who sought refuge in the region from a 15-month-old war. The rainy season that began earlier this month has already damaged shelters, made roads unusable, and will put millions at risk of water-borne diseases across large areas of the country. It comes as the number of displaced people within Sudan, currently more than 10 million, continues to tick up as the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) expands its territory in the…