Foreign

Alhaji Hafidh Ameir Hassan, the husband of Tanzania's President Samia Suluhu Hassan, has died while receiving treatment at a hospital in the country's semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar. Vice-President (VP) Deogratius Ndejembi - who made the official announcement of Ameir's death - said he had been suffering from a heart condition. Ndejembi added that funeral arrangements are under way in Kizimkazi, a village in Zanzibar. Ameir was an agricultural academic who largely kept a low public profile. He became Tanzania's first First Gentleman after President Samia took office in 2021. The First Gentleman rarely appeared in public alongside the President. He…

*Over Protests By Daniel Boffey The twins were 19 and still in high school when they were taken from their beds in the dead of night by masked men later identified as being sent by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). After four months of desperately seeking news from hospitals and state institutions, their mother, Marzieh Nourmohammadi, finally learned their fate: Taraneh and Romina Rahimi had been seized over their decision to join millions on the streets of Iranian cities during the January protests against the regime. The twins were unrecognisable by the time of their mother’s prison visit in…

An Egyptian court sentenced a well-known television presenter and 11 others to death for manufacturing and trafficking narcotics in a sprawling drug case, official media reported today (Saturday). The presenter, Sarah Khalifa, 39, is best known for her programme Mission Impossible, which dealt with issues concerning security and crime. The state-linked Al-Ahram newspaper said a Cairo court sentenced “Khalifa and 11 other defendants to death by hanging on charges of forming an organised criminal gang specialising in procuring materials used in manufacturing narcotics, with the intent to traffic them, and possessing and carrying unlicensed firearms and ammunition." The verdict came…

*We Targeted Only Military Installations, America Fires Back Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf condemned recent US attacks on Iranian civilians, describing Washington as “Satan” and denouncing it for allegedly deliberately targeting children and families. In a post on his X account on Wednesday, Qalibaf cited the US attacks on a school in Iran’s Minab, a sports hall in Lamerd and a wedding ceremony in Kuhestak, saying the pattern of civilian casualties allegedly reveals the nature of the US actions. But the US Central Command (CENTCOM) stated that the US military never targets civilians, contrasting their actions with Iran's Islamic…

*Returns Empty-Handed *Israeli Internal Police Confirms Development *'They Located, Surveilled His Florida Home, Movements Preparatory To Strike' Israeli internal security agency, the Shin Bet, confirmed an Iranian threat against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s son, Yair, on Saturday (yesterday) after reports circulated following his quick evacuation from Florida back to Israel. Shin Bet, also called the Shabak, much like the US FBI, works inside Israel and the Palestinian territories with its mandate being to stop domestic terror plots, handles counterintelligence, and protects top leaders. “There was indeed a significant threat to harm Yair Netanyahu, and in light of this, following a…

A traditional Ugandan ruler named as the world's youngest monarch has died aged 34, his Prime Minister announced on Friday (yesterday). Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV became King of Tooro in western Uganda at just three years old in 1995 after the death of his father. The Tooro kingdom did not disclose the cause of King Oyo's death, but a Ugandan government Minister was quoted in local media saying that he had been critically ill and was seeking treatment in the US. Though Uganda is governed by an elected President (Yoweri Museveni) and Parliament, it has several traditional kingdoms…

Ratko Mladić, the infamous Serbian general who was serving a life sentence for genocide committed during the Bosnian war, has died in prison in The Hague. Mladić had been one of the main architects of the policy of ethnic cleansing during the Bosnian war. He was convicted of genocide for orchestrating the 1995 killing of at least 8,000 Muslims in the UN-designated “safe area” Srebrenica, the worst massacre in Europe since the second world war. Mladić, who was nicknamed the 'Butcher of Bosnia', had been in ill health after having a series of strokes. A UN international tribunal confirmed Mladić’s…

"We are launching an economic onslaught against Iran’s financial connections around the globe. Our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone.” With these words, the United States (US) today announced a bouquet of what it described as crushing economic sanctions designed to bring the regime in Iran to its knees and possibly ignite a regime change through civil protests. But, ahead of the sanctions rollout, Tehran vowed to retaliate against any Gulf of Persia country that cooperates with the US attempt to impose the sanctions against it,saying firmly that Iran would…

The United States (US) today unfurled a proposed regulation to codify an unprecedented more than $100,000 fee on new ​H-1B visas for highly skilled foreign workers that President Donald Trump first imposed last year, but has been blocked by the courts. The proposed new fee is $103,265 (about N140 million). The H-1B program allows US employers to hire foreign workers with training in specialty fields and offers ​65,000 visas annually, with another 20,000 for workers with advanced degrees, approved for three to six years. The existing $100,000 fee ‌first imposed by Trump in a temporary proclamation last year, vastly raises…

*As President Pezeshkian Laments Economic Turmoil *US Prepares 'Toughest Sanctions In History' "We have never been afraid. All of their actions – whether blockades or other military moves they have made – have failed, and this new issue of theirs will fail as well.” This was the defiant message from Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi as the United States (US) prepared a fresh round of economic sanctions, described as the toughest in history, seeking to bring the country's government to its knees,reports the Guardian UK today. The Minister's threat came hours after Iran’s President, Masoud Pezeshkian, said US President Donald…