Category: News

United States President Donald Trump has read what might be described as a riot act to the Nigerian government, saying the continued killing of Christians in the country is unacceptable. He said this, yesterday, when he received President Muhammadu Buhari at the White House for talks aimed at boosting the strategic partnership between both countries. This came as the Christian Association of Nigerian (CAN) called for the immediate resignation of Buhari over his alleged inability to tackle killer herdsmen and other security challenges. The association also urged the international community to save Nigeria from a religious crisis, describing the recent attack on a church in Benue State as a jihad. Pope Francis had on Sunday, during his remarks at St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City, decried the attack in which Fulani herdsmen allegedly killed two Catholic priests and 17 worshippers. ‎ Expressing concern over the killing of Christians by Boko Haram, Trump said America would do everything to halt terrorist activities in Nigeria. “We have met before,...

German police began evacuating thousands of people around Berlin's central railway station on Friday, as bomb disposal experts prepare to move in to defuse an unexploded World War II explosive unearthed on a building site. Trains, trams and buses were halted or rerouted as police using a van-mounted loud-hailer announced the operation to dispose of the British 500-kilogramme (1,100-pound) bomb found more than 70 years after the war. Authorities have declared an exclusion zone with an 800-metre (yard) radius around the site located just north of the central railway station, a transport hub that on a normal day is used by 300,000 passengers. Arriving from Leipzig on a day trip to Berlin, Japanese tourist Yamamoto looked bewildered as he was told of the operation at the railway station. "We didn't know anything about the bomb," he told AFP. The exclusion zone covers the train station, an army hospital, the economy ministry, an art gallery and a museum as well as part of the BND intelligence...

The US, France and Britain unleashed air strikes on Syria early Saturday targeting the Damascus regime in retaliation for a suspected chemical attack on civilians. Western powers said the strikes were necessary to halt the use of chemical weapons by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Here is a selection of the main responses from across the world: - Russia - Damascus's ally Moscow reacted with fury to the strikes and said it was calling an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council. "Russia severely condemns the attack on Syria where Russian military are helping the lawful government in the fight with terrorism," the Kremlin said in a statement. Russia's ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, said "such actions will not be left without consequences". - Syria - "The Syrian Arab Republic condemns in the strongest terms the brutal American-British-French aggression against Syria, which constitutes a flagrant violation of international law," the foreign ministry said. State news agency SANA said the attack was "doomed to fail". - Iran - Iran, another key backer of Assad's regime,...

French police battled Tuesday to evict anti-airport protesters and the creators of an alternative anti-capitalist settlement in western France during a second day of clashes. Some 2,500 officers raided the decade-old camp at Notre-Dame-des-Landes on Monday, destroying makeshift buildings topped with corrugated iron, a giant tent, a watchtower, and a sheep shed and cheese-making area. The assault in a wooded area near the city of Nantes has seen dozens of rounds of tear gas fired, as well as stun grenades, while the occupants and demonstrators have responded by throwing petrol bombs and rocks at the security forces. The activists have used tractors and burning barricades of tyres, wooden pallets, hay bales and electricity poles in an effort to keep the police at bay. Two policemen suffered minor injuries on Tuesday, a security source told AFP, while around six demonstrators were hurt. Activists opposed to the building of an airport began squatting on the farmland in 2008 and have since built up a community they bill...

Masazo Nonaka from Japan was recognised Tuesday as the world’s oldest man at the ripe old age of 112, as his family revealed his secret: sweets and hot baths. Nonaka, who was born on July 25, 1905 — just months before Albert Einstein published his theory of special relativity — received a certificate from Guinness World Records at home on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido. The supercentenarian lives with his family, which manages a hot springs inn. “He needs a wheelchair to move but he is in good condition,” said Yuko Nonaka, his granddaughter. “He loves eating any kinds of sweets — Japanese or western style,” she told AFP. “He reads newspapers everyday and often soaks in the hot springs.” He has seven brothers and one sister who live nearby in the town of Ashoro on Hokkaido. He married Hatsuno in 1931 and the couple had five children, according to Guinness World Records. Nonaka has officially taken the title after Francisco Nunez Olivera from Spain died in February...

A 43-year-old man has been arrested for reportedly keeping the corpse of his dead mother in a deep freezer for almost three years to collect her pension every month using her thumb impression.   The incident came to light after the mutilated body of the woman was found at his home by Kolkata Police on Thursday.   Speaking to The Indian Express, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) (Behala) Nilanjan Biswas said, “Bina Mazumdar’s body was stored in a refrigerator since 2015. Why her body was stored for three years is being investigated.” The police said the accused Subhabrato Mazumdar has been detained and currently being investigated.   According to police sources, prima facie the lady (87) had died following a cardiac arrest. Reports said Bina was a government employee and had retired from Food Corporation of India (FCI). Subhabrato was a student of leather technology and was in the leather supply business. She received a pension of Rs 50,000 every month and his 90-year-old father was also...

South Africa on Tuesday paid heartfelt tributes to Winnie Mandela, who died aged 81, as politicians hailed her as an inspirational anti-apartheid campaigner and defended her often controversial record. The former wife of Nelson Mandela died in a Johannesburg hospital on Monday, mourned by many who praised her as one of the most charismatic and energetic activists who fought white-minority rule. Her convictions for kidnapping and fraud, and her reputation for overseeing brutal gang violence in black townships, were largely brushed aside by eulogies of her bravery, independence and integrity. President Cyril Ramaphosa, who described her as “an abiding symbol of the desire of our people to be free”, confirmed that a memorial service would be held on April 11 and an official funeral on April 14. Zweli Mkhize, a senior minister in the African National Congress (ANC) party government, said Winnie Mandela’s death marked “the end of an era” as she was a leading stalwart from the darkest days of the anti-apartheid struggle. “We...