International news Archives - Page 15 of 18

South Africa looting: Government to deploy 25,000 troops after unrest

15Jul

By Nasra HusseinNo Comments

International news

South Africa looting: Government to deploy 25,000 troops after unrest

The South African government plans to deploy 25,000 troops after days of widespread looting and violence. The military deployment - to counter riots sparked by the jailing of former President Jacob Zuma - is the biggest since the end of apartheid. At least 72 people have died and more than 1,700 have been arrested in South Africa's worst unrest in years. Hundreds of shops and businesses have been looted and the government says it is acting to prevent food shortages. Citizens are arming themselves and forming vigilante groups to protect their property from the rampage. More than 200 incidents of looting and vandalism were recorded on Wednesday, the government said, as the number of troops deployed doubled to 5,000. But Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said she...

Germany floods, At least 42 dead and dozens missing after record rain

15Jul

By Nasra HusseinNo Comments

International news

Germany floods, At least 42 dead and dozens missing after record rain

At least 42 people have died in western Germany and many more are missing following severe floods, police say. The worst of the flooding has been in the states of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia, where buildings and cars have been washed away. At least six others have died in neighbouring Belgium, and the city of Liège has urged all residents to leave. It follows record rainfall in parts of western Europe that has caused major rivers to burst their banks. The Netherlands has also been badly hit, with flooding rivers damaging many houses in the southern province of Limburg. A number of care homes have also had to be evacuated. Malu Dreyer, chief of Germany's Rhineland-Palatinate state, described the flooding as a "catastrophe". "There are dead, missing...

South Africa Zuma riots Death toll mounts amid looting

13Jul

By Nasra HusseinNo Comments

International news

South Africa Zuma riots Death toll mounts amid looting

At least 45 people have now died in the violence that has been engulfing parts of South Africa since the jailing of former President Jacob Zuma last week. This includes 10 people killed in a stampede during looting on Monday night at a shopping centre in Soweto. The BBC filmed a baby being thrown from a building in Durban that was on fire after ground-floor shops were looted. The military has now been deployed to help the police overstretched since the unrest began last Thursday. President Cyril Ramaphosa has called it some of the worst violence witnessed in South Africa since the 1990s, before the end of apartheid, with fires set, highways blocked and businesses and warehouses looted in major cities and small towns in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces. Africa L...

9Jul

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International news

Skydivers killed in Swedish plane crash

The plane was carrying eight skydivers and a pilot when it crashed close to the runway at Orebro airport, about 160km (100 miles) west of Stockholm, on Thursday. The crash is thought to have happened as the plane was taking off. "It's a very severe accident," Swedish police said on their website. "Everyone on board the crashed plane has died." Prime Minister Stefan Lofven offered his condolences. "It is with great sadness and sorrow that I have received the tragic information about the plane crash in Orebro," he tweeted. "My thoughts are with the victims, their families and loved ones in this very difficult time." In a similar incident in 2019, nine people died when a plane carrying them for a parachute jump crashed in the north of the country soon after taking off...

Museveni warns social media users spreading fake news of his death

9Jul

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International news

Museveni warns social media users spreading fake news of his death

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has directed security forces ‘‘to locate very quickly’’ and arrest sources of fake news regarding his presumed death. ‘‘Apparently, social media has been saying that Museveni is dead. They (security forces) should locate very quickly [the one who tells such a story],’’ Mr Museveni said on Thursday. The misinformation started circulating on June 26 on microblogging platforms including Facebook, which is banned in Uganda. ‘‘The other day when I went to that side of Bombo to lay a foundation (for a project) people were looking at me with shock because social media reported that I was dead,’’ Mr Museveni said. The President now said security forces should solve what he described as an idiot...

South Africa’s ex-president Jacob Zuma starts serving jail term.

8Jul

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International news

South Africa’s ex-president Jacob Zuma starts serving jail term.

Prison authorities confirmed that Zuma "has been admitted to start serving a 15 months sentence at Estcourt Correctional Centre" in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal. It is the first time a former president has been jailed in post-apartheid South Africa. His turning himself in after days of refusing to do so brought an end to an impasse that had gripped the country, which is also battling a brutal third wave of Covid-19. The sentence handed to Zuma by the Constitutional Court last week for snubbing anti-graft investigators also set a benchmark for the continent, by jailing a former head of state for refusing to respond to a corruption probe. Police had earlier on Wednesday warned they were prepared to arrest Zuma by a midnight deadline to enforce the ruling, unless the to...

7Jul

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International news

Haitian President shot dead at home

Haitian President Jovenal Moise was shot dead by unidentified attackers in his private residence overnight in an "inhuman and barbaric act" and his wife was injured, Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph said on Wednesday. He said the police and army had the security situation under control but gunshots could be heard throughout the capital after the attack, which occurred amid a rising wave of politically linked violence in the impoverished Caribbean nation. With Haiti politically divided, and facing a growing humanitarian crisis and shortages of food, there are fears of widespread disorder. "The President was injured and succumbed to those injuries," Joseph said in an interview with Radio Caraibes. Port-au-Prince had been suffering an increase in violence as gangs b...

7Jul

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International news

India’s health minister quits

India's health minister resigned ahead of a cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday, officials said, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking to reinvigorate an administration that has been heavily criticised for its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Health Minister Harsh Vardhan quit, a source close to the minister said, paying the political price for the government's struggles to cope with a devastating second wave of coronavirus infections. Media reports said a change is also possible at the labour ministry. The ministers for finance, foreign affairs, home and defence, however, were unlikely to be changed, according to the reports. Before announcing his first cabinet reshuffle since winning a second term in 2019, Modi consulted leaders of his Bharatiya Janata Party, a gover...

Egypt denounces Ethiopia’s move to fill Nile dam

6Jul

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International news

Egypt denounces Ethiopia’s move to fill Nile dam

Egypt has denounced Ethiopia's decision to begin filling the reservoir behind its giant hydropower dam on the Blue Nile for a second year. The Egyptian irrigation minister, Mohamed Abdel Aty, said he'd received official notice of the filling from Ethiopia and had categorically rejected it. He said in a statement that the "unilateral" move was "a violation of international laws and norms that regulate projects built on the shared basins of international rivers, including the Nile River". The minister has also written to the United Nations Security Council informing it of the latest measure by Ethiopia, the statement adds. The council is due to meet to discuss the matter this Thursday. Egypt and Sudan had warned Ethiopia that it should wait until they'd all reached a legally...

Kenyan Keegan Oyugi who went missing in Minnesota found dead.

30Jun

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International news

Kenyan Keegan Oyugi who went missing in Minnesota found dead.

A Kenyan who had gone missing in Minnesota two weeks ago has been found dead. Keegan Oyugi, 26, was found dead in a single-vehicle crash in the south metro. Minnetrista Police Department police said a car found off Highway 101 in Savage belonged to Oyugi. Police said they found his body buckled in the car seat. “As we await formal identification from the medical examiner’s office, our thoughts and prayers go out to the Oyugi family,” the police said. The Minnesota State Patrol is investigating the crash scene, and the Hennepin County Medical Examiner will formally identify the victim in the days ahead. According to Minnesota news, the westbound lanes of the highway in the south metro suburb were closed after someone reported seeing a badly-damaged red car in a...