Nigerian officials say a Boeing 787-800 belonging to United Airlines was forced to make an emergency return last Friday
Multiple people were injured on a United Airlines flight heading from Lagos, Nigeria, to Washington DC last week.
In a statement released on Friday, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria said that a Boeing 787-800 belonging to United Airlines was forced to make an emergency return last Friday.
Continue reading...Intelligence sources suggest battle for Congolese regional capital Goma is imminent before UN crisis talks on Sunday
Large numbers of troops from Rwanda have been pouring across the border into the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to help rebels seize the regional capital of Goma before an emergency UN meeting about the crisis takes place on Sunday, intelligence officials have warned.
Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) soldiers are believed to have secretly crossed into the eastern DRC over the past few days to assist a lightning offensive by the M23 militia.
Continue reading...Maj Gen Peter Cirimwami Nkuba shot near frontline as advance causes panic among civilian population
The military governor of North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has died from injuries sustained during the army’s fight against the M23 rebel group as it advances towards the city of Goma.
Maj Gen Peter Cirimwami Nkuba, who led the province since 2023, died after being shot near the frontline on Thursday, government and UN sources told various news agencies.
Continue reading...From Europe to Africa and South America, countries reaffirm commitment to tackle crisis
World leaders, senior ministers and key figures in climate diplomacy have, one by one, reaffirmed their commitment to the Paris agreement this week, in response to the order by Donald Trump to withdraw the US from the pact.
The prospect of the world keeping temperatures to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, as the treaty calls for, was damaged by the incoming US president’s move. Hopes of meeting the target were already fast receding, and last year was the first to consistently breach the 1.5C limit, but the goal will be measured over years or even decades and stringent cuts to emissions now could still make a difference.
Continue reading...Allegations of rape, beatings and collusion by EU-funded security forces prompt shift in migration arrangements
The European Commission is fundamentally overhauling how it makes payments to Tunisia after a Guardian investigation exposed myriad abuses by EU-funded security forces, including widespread sexual violence against migrants.
Officials are drawing up “concrete” conditions to ensure that future European payments to Tunis can go ahead only if human rights have not been violated.
Continue reading...General Osama Najim was released on a technicality and repatriated by Italy without any prior consultation, says international criminal court
Italy’s interior minister said on Thursday a Libyan man detained under an international war crimes arrest warrant and then unexpectedly released had been swiftly repatriated because of his “social dangerousness“.
Osama Najim, also known as Almasri, was detained on Sunday in Turin under an arrest warrant issued by The Hague-based international criminal court (ICC).
Continue reading...‘Moment of truth’ for UK foreign secretary over Alaa Abd El Fattah, who is still being held in a Cairo prison
The family of the jailed British-Egyptian writer Alaa Abd El Fattah have urged the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, to prioritise the dissident’s release above trade deals during his visit to Egypt.
Fattah remains in a Cairo jail even though his sentence for dissent has been served. His mother is on a hunger strike in London with her health now deteriorating.
Continue reading...Case of Osama Najim puts spotlight on controversial migration pact between Italy and Libya
Giorgia Meloni’s government is under pressure to clarify why a Rome court refused to approve the arrest of a Libyan general accused of war crimes, allowing him to return home to a hero’s welcome on an Italian secret services flight in what critics believe was a tactic to shield alleged abuses committed in the north African country as a result of a migrant pact with Italy.
Osama Najim, also known as Almasri, was detained in Turin on Sunday on a warrant issued by the international criminal court (ICC) before being freed on Tuesday owing to a procedural technicality.
Continue reading...The maritime group, founded in 1760 by merchants and underwriters, issued the apology after commissioning research into its links to slavery
Lloyd’s Register, the maritime and industrial group owned by one of Britain’s biggest charities, has apologised for its role in the trafficking of enslaved African people but has been criticised for not going far enough.
Founded in 1760 as the Society for the Registry of Shipping by merchants and underwriters who met at Edward Lloyd’s coffee house in Lombard Street in London, the company provided classification for ships.
Continue reading...Osama Najim was arrested amid claims he used detained migrants in ‘a form of slavery’, but then freed after after a mistake by prosecutors
A Libyan general wanted for alleged war crimes and violence against inmates at a prison near Tripoli has been arrested in the northern Italian city of Turin – and then released after an apparent mistake by prosecutors.
Osama Najim, also known as Almasri, was detained on Sunday on an international arrest warrant after a tipoff from Interpol, a source at the prosecutors office for the Piedmont region confirmed.
Continue reading...Those who died had scrambled to take the fuel, which has rocketed in price amid an economic crisis
A fuel tanker exploded after flipping over in central Nigeria on Saturday, killing 70 people who had scrambled to take the fuel.
Kumar Tsukwam, the head of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Niger State, said a truck carrying 60,000 litres of gasoline had an accident at about 10am at the Dikko junction on the road linking the capital city, Abuja, to the northern city of Kaduna.
Continue reading...WHO is ‘critical in protecting US business interests’, says CEO of firm that may see lean years if Trump carries out vow
The World Health Organization (WHO) could see lean years ahead if the US withdraws membership under the new Trump administration. Such a withdrawal, promised on the first day of Donald Trump’s new administration, would in effect cut the multilateral agency’s funding by one-fifth.
The severe cut would be uncharted territory for the WHO, potentially curtailing public health works globally, pressuring the organization to attract private funding, and providing an opening for other countries to influence the organization. Other countries are not expected to make up the funding loss.
Continue reading...Measures come a week after Washington also sanctioned Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s rival, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo
The United States has imposed sanctions on Sudan’s army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, accusing him of choosing war over negotiations to bring an end to the conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people and driven millions from their homes.
The US treasury department said in a statement that under Burhan’s leadership, the army’s war tactics have included indiscriminate bombing of civilian infrastructure, attacks on schools, markets and hospitals, and extrajudicial executions.
Continue reading...Eron Kiiza, who was representing regime opponent Dr Kizza Besigye, was assaulted and sentenced to nine months’ jail, say colleagues
A human rights lawyer involved in a case featuring a prominent Ugandan opposition leader has been tortured after he was arrested and detained without trial, according to colleagues who have visited him.
Eron Kiiza was assaulted and arrested by soldiers on 7 January while entering a military courtroom where he was representing Dr Kizza Besigye – a political opponent of President Yoweri Museveni – and his aide Haji Obeid Lutale.
Continue reading...Future of Diego Garcia military base should be considered before handover to Mauritius signed off, No 10 says
The UK government will not sign off a deal to hand back the Chagos Islands to Mauritius until Donald Trump’s administration has had a chance to consider the future of the joint military base, Downing Street has confirmed.
Allies of the US president-elect have been critical of the deal because of the implications for the strategically important Diego Garcia base, with concerns that it could bolster Chinese interests in the Indian Ocean.
Continue reading...Healthcare workers among suspected cases of Ebola-like disease as WHO issues warning of high risk to the country and its neighbours
A suspected outbreak of Marburg virus disease (MVD) in Tanzania has killed eight people and poses a high risk to the country and its neighbours, global health leaders have said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said nine suspected cases of the Ebola-like virus had been reported as of 11 January, in two districts of the Kagera region in the north of the country, including the eight deaths.
Continue reading...Law to stop armed groups profiting from trade in gold, tin, tungsten and tantalum is being breached, rights groups say
The European Union has been urged to clamp down on illegal imports of conflict minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) after evidence was found that current regulations had been breached.
The advocacy group Global Witness (GW) said there remained a “high risk” of the EU’s mineral imports being used to fund militias and state repression in several countries.
Continue reading...Phone video shared by mining NGO appears to show dozens of wrapped bodies in underground tunnel
The South African government has launched a mission to bring to the surface potentially hundreds of people in an illegal mine who last year had supplies of food, water and medicine blocked by police in an attempt to force them out.
The government agreed to the attempt on Friday after the sister of one of those underground initiated a court case in response to letters from miners brought to the surface on Thursday.
Continue reading...Tropical storm batters eastern parts of Africa, including French territory still recovering from Cyclone Chido
Over the weekend, eastern parts of Africa were threatened by Tropical Cyclone Dikeledi. What started as a slight tropical disturbance between Indonesia and Australia on 2 January progressed westwards while developing into a depression over the week that followed.
The depression strengthened into a moderate tropical storm with heavy downpours and gusty winds exceeding 39mph (63km/h) across central parts of the Indian Ocean. At this time, the system was named Dikeledi. It continued westwards and deepened into a tropical cyclone on the evening of 10 January as maximum sustained wind speeds hit 74mph – the equivalent of becoming a category 1 hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean.
Continue reading...Somalia severed relations over sea access agreement Ethiopia signed with separatist region of Somaliland
Somalia and Ethiopia have agreed to restore diplomatic representation in their respective capitals, more than a year after Somalia severed ties over a sea access agreement landlocked Ethiopia signed with the separatist northern Somali region of Somaliland.
In a joint statement after an unexpected visit by Somalia’s president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, to Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, both countries committed to “restore and enhance bilateral relations through full diplomatic representation in their respective capitals”.
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