Foreign

A group of atheists in Kenya has threatened to file a lawsuit against the Nairobi-based Pentecostal Evangelistic Fellowship of Africa (PEFA) church, over an alleged noise pollution.   The society’s President Harrison Mumia who made the announcement over the weekend, said they’ve issued a 14-day ultimatum to allow the church…

Burkina Faso’s revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara, who was gunned down during a coup in 1987, was shot at least seven times by assassins using tracer rounds, experts have told a long-awaited trial into his killing.   Sankara was struck by “at least seven rounds” in the chest, one of which…

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said Washington is still trying to get to the bottom of a mysterious illness that has affected US diplomats posted around the world but does not yet know what causes the affliction or who is behind it.   Blinken made the comments…

US government scientists have said 2021 was the sixth warmest year on record, and they are putting the blame squarely on climate change.   On average, 2021 was 1.51 degrees Fahrenheit (0.84 degrees Celsius) hotter than the baseline between 1901 and 2000, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said…

Poorer nations last month rejected more than 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines distributed by the global programme COVAX, mainly due to their approaching expiry date, a UNICEF official has said.   The figure shows the difficulties of vaccinating the global population despite growing supplies of jabs, with COVAX getting…

A group of Kenyan LGBT students protested Thursday against a Cabinet minister’s recent suggestion they be banned from boarding schools. The schools are common in Kenya and the students and rights groups say a ban would be discriminatory and compromise their safety.   Dozens of angry students took to the…

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose in the first week of January amid raging COVID-19 infections, but that number still remains low by historical standards.   The United States jobless claims – a proxy for layoffs – climbed by 23,000 last week to 230,000 for the week…

The police have arrested a Chinese national who was about to be lynched by residents of Kwahu Apradang in the Eastern region of Ghana for allegedly shooting an 8-year-old boy. The incident reportedly occurred on Wednesday, Jan. 12, while the victim, identified as Kwasi Mireku, was playing with his friends.…

South African police Wednesday uprooted cannabis plants grown by indigenous activists who have camped outside President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office for more than three years, AFP reporters saw.   Their leader, wearing a traditional loincloth, clung to a shoulder-height plant as police dragged it across the presidential lawn in Pretoria before…

Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa said on Wednesday that China would be donating another 10 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine over the course of 2022.   Zimbabwe, like most African countries, is struggling with low rates of vaccination, due to availability issues and also to vaccine hesitancy or public apathy.…

Japan on Wednesday cancelled 160 flights and suspended train traffic in several regions in the north of the country due to heavy snowfalls and strong winds.   The NHK broadcaster reported that the flights were mainly those taking off or landing on the Japanese island of Hokkaido. New Chitose Airport…

US consumer prices jumped last year at the fastest pace in four decades, the government confirmed Wednesday, underscoring the potent inflation wave that has sapped public support for President Joe Biden even as the economy recovers from the pandemic. The seven percent increase in the Labor Department’s consumer price index…

An opposition senator was shot dead in western Cameroon where a bloody insurgency has been waged by anglophone separatists against the state, his party and an official said.   Lawmaker Henry Kemende, whose body was found Wednesday, “was killed (overnight) by unidentified armed assailants”, a local communications ministry official confirmed…

An Iranian employee of the British Council jailed for more than three years in Iran and sentenced to 10 years in prison over widely criticised espionage charges has returned to the United Kingdom after being freed, the organisation said.   Aras Amiri won her appeal to Iran’s Supreme Court, the…

A family dog mauled a newborn baby boy after his mother fell asleep on the sofa and his dad went outside for a cigarette, it has been revealed. Reuben McNulty was just 14 days old when his parents’ pet dog, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier bit his head up to 23…

The European Parliament President and Italian social democrat, David Sassoli, has passed on at the age of 65, his spokesperson has confirmed.   “The @EP_President David Sassoli passed away at 1.15 am on 11 January at the CRO in Aviano (PN), Italy, where he was hospitalized. The date and place…

American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist, Maya Angelou has become the first Black woman to appear on the US quarter, in a new version of the coin unveiled by the US Mint on Monday.   Angelou, author of “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” will also be the…

A court has sentenced a 31-year-old man to life imprisonment for having unlawful carnal knowledge of five women he met on Tinder. Tattooed Tom Rodwell, of Acklam, Middlesbrough subjected his victims to s3xual and physical harm, manipulated them, and made them feel worthless, Teesside Crown Court was told.   Passing…

India has reported 141,986 new daily COVID-19 cases – the most since the end of May – as the Omicron variant of the coronavirus overtakes the Delta version in major cities.   The health ministry on Saturday also reported 285 new deaths, taking the total to 483,463 and total infections…

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Kazakh counterpart Kassym-Jomart Tokayev held a “lengthy” phone conversation to discuss the situation in Kazakhstan following unprecedented unrest, the Kremlin said Saturday. Tokayev also thanked the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) military alliance and “especially” Russia for its help in quelling the protests that…