The US Treasury announced financial sanctions on Thursday, the first under the new administration of Donald Trump, that target an “international network” accused of shipping Iranian oil to China to fund Tehran’s military activities. The sanctions target the network for “facilitating the shipment of millions of barrels of Iranian crude oil worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the People’s Republic of China,” the Treasury Department wrote in a statement. The oil was shipped on behalf of Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff and a sanctioned front company called Sepehr Energy Jahan Nama Pars, the Treasury statement noted. “The Iranian…
Author: Osas Monday
Read More
2 hours ago The Lagos Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Thursday, February 6, 2025, arraigned nine Chinese nationals and a company, Genting International Co. Ltd., before Justice C.J. Aneke of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos. The anti-graft agency gave the names of the defendants as Su Dong Fu, Zheng… 2 hours ago Amid dangerous weather conditions, authorities have launched a search for a Bering Air Caravan plane with 10 people on board which vanished over Alaska. The aircraft, which was travelling from Unalakleet with nine passengers and one pilot on board,…
Kenya said Thursday it had deployed more than 100 additional police officers to Haiti, after Washington backtracked on withdrawing support for a security mission to the troubled nation. Earlier in the week, President Donald Trump’s administration said it had frozen financial contributions to the mission, but the State Department said Wednesday it was maintaining most of the aid. Kenya’s interior ministry confirmed to AFP that 144 officers had been deployed Tuesday morning, bringing the total number in the country to more than 700. Interior Ministry cabinet secretary Kipchumba Murkomen said the force comprised of “120 men and 24 women…
A French court ruled on Thursday that the seaside city of Biarritz must rename its La Negresse historic district, possibly named after a black woman, following a case brought by activists who argued it was an outdated legacy of colonialism. The ruling caps a long-running attempt by activists to force authorities in the resort on the Atlantic coast to drop what they say are “racist and sexist” place names. The activists want city officials to rename the La Negresse district as well as one of the city’s streets, rue de la Negresse. La Negresse is the feminine version of…
An online influencer in Gabon has been detained after broadcasting images shot inside a hospital emergency department plunged into darkness by a long power cut, sources said Thursday. Several activists reported on social media the arrest of Novelas Overmax after his last message in which he described himself as “wanted”. The post appeared on Monday, a day after his video was shared on TikTok. The influencer was “placed in custody” late on Wednesday and taken to the central prison in the capital Libreville, one of his friends Eric Otsetse wrote on Facebook. Authorities have not confirmed or denied the…
Thousands of survivors held torchlit vigils before dawn on Thursday across southern Turkey, voicing pain and anger as they marked the moment a devastating earthquake struck two years ago. The 7.8-magnitude quake struck at 4:17 am when people were sleeping, killing over 53,000 people in Turkey and some 6,000 in Syria. It destroyed almost 40,000 buildings and severely damaged about 200,000 others in Turkey, leaving huge numbers trapped under the rubble. “Although two years have passed, we are still hurting. It still feels like it did on that first day. That hasn’t changed,” survivor Emine Albayrak, 25, told AFP…
Israel on Thursday said that it was not planning to withdraw from other United Nations bodies besides the Human Rights Council, which it is boycotting over perceived bias and “anti-Semitism”. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Wednesday announced that his country would halt its participation in the UN’s top rights body, charging on X that it “focused on attacking a democratic country and propagating anti-Semitism, instead of promoting human rights”. The move came a day after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order saying that Washington, which is already in the process of pulling out of the World…
Countries must aim as high as possible when setting new goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Andre Correa do Lago, the president of the COP30 climate conference to be hosted by Brazil in November, told AFP in an interview. With just days to go until the February 10 deadline for signatories of the Paris climate accord to unveil their new goals for 2035, major players such as the European Union and China have yet to announce their targets. Under the accord, countries agreed in 2015 to try to hold warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels — which…
Sudan’s military on Thursday launched a multi-pronged advance to reclaim central Khartoum, an army source told AFP, after a weeks-long offensive recaptured much of the capital from paramilitaries. The army, at war with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces since April 2023, has in recent weeks mounted a fierce assault to reclaim full control of the capital. Nationwide, at least 191 people were killed in the past week, according to an AFP tally of United Nations and activist figures. The army is “close to reaching the centre of Khartoum… and expelling the Daglo militia”, a source in the army told…
Azerbaijan closed a Russian cultural centre in Baku, the foreign ministry said Thursday, as ties with Moscow sour over claims Russian air defence systems hit an Azerbaijani plane mid-air, causing it to crash and kill 38 people. An Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed in Kazakhstan’s western city of Aktau on 25 December after being forced to divert from its scheduled landing in the southern Russian city of Grozny, where air defence systems were active. A Kazakh investigation said Tuesday the plane had probably been damaged by “external objects”. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly said it was accidentally shot by…