The late Namibian president Sam Nujoma, who died last week aged 95, will be laid to rest in a state funeral in March, the government said on Friday. Nujoma, a guerrilla leader, was the country’s first president after it won independence from South Africa in 1990. He will be buried on Saturday March 1 at the National Heroes Acre in the capital Windhoek, President Nangolo Mbumba said in the official gazette. The weeks of mourning will climax with the funeral on the Saturday, which has been declared a national holiday. Nujoma’s body will be buried near former president Hage…
Author: Osas Monday
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The first-ever astronaut with a physical disability has been cleared for a mission onboard the International Space Station, the European Space Agency announced on Friday. John McFall, a 43-year-old British surgeon and former Paralympian who lost a leg in a motorbike accident when he was 19, said he was “hugely proud” of clearing the hurdle. Since announcing McFall as a member of its astronaut reserve in 2022, the European Space Agency (ESA) has been assessing the feasibility of someone with a prosthesis becoming a crew member on a space mission. On Friday, the ESA announced that McFall had received…
As the Church of England tackles the fallout from a series of sexual-abuse scandals, women bishops have been notably prominent and outspoken pushing for accountability and better safeguarding. Amid a decades-long battle for more gender equality within Anglicanism’s mother church, some see women’s growing profiles and activism as significant in this latest crisis, at a time when more are becoming priests and more training to join the clergy. “My own experience has been that female bishops have shown far greater levels of empathy for those hurt by the Church and also awareness of how Church power structures can oppress…
Britain unveiled Friday sanctions against four Russian officials and two subsidiaries of Russia’s state-owned civil nuclear energy company, in the “latest crackdown on the Kremlin” following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Announcing the curbs, Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the UK wanted “to keep up the pressure” on Russian President Vladimir Putin, with a Russian defence minister, Pavel Fradkov, among those targeted by London. Britain’s top diplomat linked the sanctions to the work of Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader who died in an Arctic prison colony last year in murky circumstances. Lammy will meet his widow Yulia Navalnya…
A federal judge has temporarily lifted a freeze on funding to US aid and development programs ordered by President Donald Trump’s administration, court documents seen by AFP on Friday showed. Judge Amir Ali, who was appointed by Joe Biden in November, prohibited the Trump administration from “suspending, pausing, or otherwise preventing” foreign assistance funds, according to the Thursday ruling. The Trump administration has frozen foreign aid funding, ordered thousands of internationally based staff to return to the United States, and begun slashing the USAID headcount of 10,000 employees to around only 300. The new court order also stops the…
UN chief Antonio Guterres called for an end to the influx of weapons fuelling war in Sudan, as leaders gathered in Ethiopia to discuss the “unprecedented” crisis on Friday. “Civilians must be protected, safe humanitarian access must be facilitated and the flow of weapons must stop,” said Guterres at the meeting on the sidelines of the African Union summit in Addis Ababa. He said the conflict in Sudan, which has killed tens of thousands and uprooted over 12 million since it began in April 2023, was an “unprecedented humanitarian crisis on the African continent”. The chair of the African…
The International Committee of the Red Cross, which has facilitated the ongoing hostage-prisoner swaps between Israel and Hamas, said Friday it was “very concerned” about the condition of the remaining captives held in Gaza. “The latest release operations reinforce the urgent need for ICRC access to those held hostage. We remain very concerned about the conditions of the hostages,” the Red Cross said in a statement on X. “We have consistently reiterated that release and transfer operations should be carried out in a dignified and safe manner. “The ICRC will continue our efforts to see all hostages released, until…
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) called for a humanitarian pause in the Sudan war during the upcoming Muslim holiday of Ramadan, as leaders met in Ethiopia on Friday to discuss the conflict. The UAE is accused by the United Nations and others of supporting the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been fighting the regular army since April 2023 in a war that has killed tens of thousands and uprooted over 12 million. The Gulf state promised the United States in December that it would not arm the RSF, after two US lawmakers attempted to block its purchase of…
38 mins ago A chieftain of the Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, is dead. Adebajo died on Friday morning at his Lekki residence in Lagos aged 96. “With a heart full of gratitude for a selfless life spent in the service of God, the nation and humanity, we announce the passing on of our beloved patriarch,… 39 mins ago The Japanese government said Friday it will release a fifth of its emergency rice stockpile after hot weather, poor harvests 46 mins ago The National President of Nigerian Veterinary Medical Association (NVMA) has directed its members to take a…
The intensifying conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has provoked fears of a regional war. Several of the DRC’s nine neighbouring countries, as well as South Africa, already have a military presence on the ground. For the last 30 years, successive conflicts in eastern DRC have turned the heart of the African Great Lakes region into a tinderbox ready to catch fire. During the two biggest wars between 1996 and 2003, around 10 African states sent troops either to support Kinshasa or armed groups. – M23 and Rwandan forces –Anti-governmental group the M23 (March 23 Movement),…