- UN, UK evacuate staff from Sudan as protesters reject talks
The UN and the UK have recalled their non-essential staff from Sudan as the transition crisis there threatens to get out of hand.
The Janjaweed militia styled Rapid Support Forces has since Sunday led a crackdown on protesters that officially has left more than 46 dead.
Other sources put the death toll at more than 100.
The group leading the protests to press for return to civilian rule has rejected talks with the military junta, which the US and Saudi Arabia want resumed.
- Nigerian ex-dictator’s corrupt $267m seized in Jersey
More than $267 million (237.6 million euros) belonging to the late Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha has been seized from a bank account in Jersey, the Channel Island’s government said.
A US Federal Court had found the money “was derived from corruption in Nigeria” and had been laundered through the US banking system by people including Abacha’s son Mohammed, the government said in a statement.
The money was then transferred to the British crown dependency of Jersey.
Army officer Abacha ruled Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998 aged 54.
- UN warns of severe hunger in Somalia
Somalia is facing severe hunger due to one of the worst droughts in decades, the UN aid chief warned Wednesday.
Mark Lowcock, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said the season was the driest “on record in over 35 years as he released $45 million to scale up emergency response in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda.
Two thirds of the funds will go to Somalia where 2.2 million people face severe hunger by September, up from 1.3 million people in January.
- Uganda seeks to relocate 100,000 over Mt Elgon landslides
More than 100,000 people in Uganda require to be relocated from areas prone to landslides which have left six dead and scores missing.
Red cross said around 50 people were believed missing and 150 houses destroyed after the landslides on Tuesday night in the foothills of Mount Elgon in Bududa district.
Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda said that “over 100,000 people living precariously on the slopes of Mount Elgon are estimated to be at great danger and requiring relocation.”
- Senegal’s Macky Sall sees oil conspiracy in graft report
Senegal’s President Macky Sall Wednesday rejected corruption allegations against his brother in a BBC investigation as an attempt to destabilise the country.
“We know that where there is oil, some will try to destabilise the country,” Sall said at prayers to mark the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
The report on Sunday said Aliou Sall, had benefited from ‘bonuses’ of $250,000 from Timis Corporation for gas exploitation rights.
Aliou denies the claims and intends to sue the broadcaster.
- In Niger, mass distribution of antibiotics proves effective
Scientists are trying to come to terms with the results of a study in Niger that shows mass administration of antibiotics reduced child mortality without creating resistance from continued use.
Previous studies had shown mixed results but the WHO study, published on Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, found antibiotic azithromycin was effective against several bacteria, including E. coli and trachoma.
The WHO runs a huge program which has distributed tens of millions of azithromycin doses to the worst affected countries.
Although resistance to the antibiotic was observed in laboratories, it did not impact on-the-ground mortality rates. Researchers hope to know in a year if resistance develops overtime.
- Opioid maker Insys agrees to pay $225 million over bribes
Insys Therapeutics has agreed to pay $225 million to settle criminal and civil probes of its unlawful marketing of an opioid painkiller, the Justice Department said Wednesday.
Last month the founder of the Arizona-based company and four other former executives were convicted of setting up a system of large scale bribes for doctors to prescribe Subsys, a powerful and addictive opioid for terminal cancer patients.
The settlement will be paid out over five years, ending investigations into how the company tried to sell this fentanyl spray, which is 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine.
- IMF asks central banks to stimulate growth
Central banks should maintain stimulus and governments resolve trade disputes quickly to avoid slowing global growth.
IMF chief Christine Lagardee said the immediate priority was to resolve trade tiffs such as the one between the United States and China.
She described exchange of tariffs as threatened by the two countries “self-inflicted wounds that must be avoided” to sustain growth in the two countries.
The Group of 20 finance ministers and central bankers are preparing for a meeting in Japan this weekend.
Musician Jose ChamJose Chameleoneleone, one of East Africa’s most popular musicians, has said he wants to be mayor of the capital, Kampala, according to Uganda’s observer newspaper.
Chameleone, real name Joseph Mayanja, said he was motivated by the failures of President Yoweri Museveni’s government in delivering services.
“People have yearned for adequate leadership and it has not materialised,” Chameleone said, acknowledging Bobi Wine’s influence.
Bobi Wine, real name Robert Kyagulanyi, has led demonstrations, been arrested, tortured in police custody and charged with treason since he was was elected to parliament in 2017.
- Life term expected for German serial killer
A German court will deliver the verdict Thursday on the man believed to be the most prolific serial killer in the country’s post-war history, as grieving families face still unanswered questions.
Judge Sebastian Buehrmann is expected to hand down a life sentence for around 100 counts of murder to former nurse Niels Hoegel.
On the final day of the trial on Wednesday, Hoegel asked his victims’ loved ones for forgiveness for his “horrible acts.”
Hoegel, 42, has already spent a decade in prison following a previous life sentence he received for six other murders.
- Scientists close to solving black hole mystery
Scientists on Thursday unveiled the most detailed simulation of a black hole yet, solving a mystery dating back more than four decades over how the star-devouring monsters consume matter.
Coming fresh on the heels of the first ever photo of one of the giant objects, which are scattered across the Universe, astrophysicists are now several steps closer to understanding how they form and develop.
A black hole is born when a large star collapses in on itself. But far from being a “hole”, they are incredibly dense objects with a gravitational pull so strong that nothing, not even light, may escape them.
As they suck in matter such as gas, dust and space debris, they form an accretion disk – a bright mass of super-speed particles around them – that was seen as a blurry halo around a black hole in photos released in April.
- Infantino eyes ‘$50 billion’ windfall for new Club World Cup
FIFA president Gianni Infantino believes a 24-team Club World Cup could generate as much as $50 billion in commercial income when it starts in 2021.
Infantino was re-elected unopposed for a second term as FIFA president in Paris on Wednesday and will now press on with plans already approved for the expanded competition.
The Club World Cup in its present format involves only seven teams, but he believes a 24-team competition will bring in possibly more than the $25 billion previously quoted.
- CAF orders replay of abandoned African Champions League final
African football’s governing body has ordered the abandoned second leg of the CAF Champions League final between Esperance and Wydad Casablanca to be replayed at a neutral venue after this month’s Cup of Nations.
Tunisian club Esperance were initially handed the title after Moroccan side Wydad Casablanca walked off an hour into last week’s return match in Tunis because VAR was unavailable to judge a disallowed equaliser.
Holders Esperance were leading 1-0 in the second leg and 2-1 overall when play was halted, and after a 90-minute delay the referee awarded the match to the home side.
CAN (Africa Cup of Nations) runs from June 21 to July 19 and Esperance are expected to challenge the decision.
