Search for survivors continued Friday afternoon after two buses swept off a key highway into the Trishuli River in Nepal

The accident happened in the early hours of the day.

Little can be said about 60 passengers of the buses who are said to be missing but three others who swam to safety are on hospital admission.

Police sources said the buses were travelling on a highway connecting the capital, Kathmandu, to southern parts of Nepal when they were swept away near Simaltal, about 120 kilometres west of the capital.

Military and police operatives were involved in the search which was yet to yield anything by early Friday afternoon, as even the buses were yet to be located.

Local reports indicate that downpours in the past few days around that part of Nepal have swollen the waterways with dirty brown water, making it hard for rescuers to see their way around.

Reports have it that as it continued to rain, causing floods and landslides, a third bus was hit by a landslide in the later hours of Friday morning a short distance away on the same highway.

The driver of the said third bus was killed but not much else is reported about that particular bus.

Nepal’s Prime Minister, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, has expressed sadness about the incidents, adding that he was concerned over recent floods and landslides in parts of the country.

Close to 100 people have been killed since the middle of last month in Nepal as heavy rains cause floods and landslides in the South Asian country of 31 million people.

Kenya’s Inspector General of Police, Japhet Koome, has resigned following a brutal police crackdown on anti-tax protesters that resulted in the deaths of more than 40 individuals.

The Kenyan National Commission on Human Rights reported that 39 people were killed as the police used excessive force against the demonstrators. The toll increased following the commission’s report.

Mr Koome’s resignation was announced in a statement by State House spokesperson Hussein Mohamed on Friday.

“HIS EXCELLENCY William Samoei Ruto, PhD, CGH, president and Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces, has, on this 12th day of July 2024, accepted the resignation of Eng. Japheth N. Koome, MGH, as the Inspector General of the National Police Service,” the statement reads.

In the statement, Mr Ruto appointed Douglas Kanja, the current Deputy Inspector General of the Kenya Police Service, as the acting Inspector General of the National Police Service.

This development follows Mr Ruto’s decision to dismiss his cabinet members the previous day in an attempt to address the grievances of the anti-tax protesters.

Prior to the cabinet reshuffle on Thursday, Mr Ruto had announced a series of austerity measures, including the scrapping of the budgets for the offices of the First and Second Ladies and the dissolution of 47 state agencies, among other cuts.

A 35-year-old woman, Jumoke Ayoola, was on Friday docked in an Iyaganku chief magistrates’ court in Ibadan for allegedly threatening to kill her husband.

Mrs Ayoola, whose address was not provided, was charged with a threat to kill.

She pleaded not guilty.

The prosecutor, Insp Akeem Akinloye, told the court that the defendant committed the offence on July 4, at about 1:00 p.m., in the Oluyole area, Ibadan.

Mr Akinloye said the defendant hired some killers to kill her husband, Jide, after having a misunderstanding with him.

He said the offence contravened the provisions of section 86 of the Criminal Laws of Oyo State, 2000.

The chief magistrate, Olabisi Ogunkanmi, admitted the defendant to N1 million with two reliable sureties in like sum.

She adjourned the case until November 6 for a hearing.

At least four people were killed due to lightning in India’s eastern state of Bihar, officials said on Friday.

Heavy rains and thunderstorms accompanied by lightning strikes lashed several parts of the state during the past 24 hours, affecting seven districts.

“During the past 24 hours, due to lightning, two deaths were reported in Siwan and one each in Supaul and Rohtas districts,’’ a statement issued by the Chief Minister’s office said.

Reports said most casualties occurred when lightning struck people working in fields and taking shelter under trees during the rain.

Bihar’s Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has expressed sympathy with the victims’ families and announced monetary relief for them.

“Chief Minister has announced an ex-gratia payment of INR 400,000 ($4,788) to the next of kin of the deceased,’’ a government spokesman said.

Mr Kumar has also urged people to remain vigilant in bad weather and follow the suggestions issued by the disaster management department, including staying at home during thunderstorms.

On Monday, lightning killed 12 people in the state.

Reports said over 40 people have lost their lives to lightning strikes across Bihar in the last two weeks.

Every year, with the onset of monsoon season, hundreds die in lightning incidents in India.

A two-storey building housing secondary school students has collapsed in Busa Buji village, Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State.

Channels Television reports that the incident occurred while the school was in session.

The number of casualties has not been ascertained as rescue operations are ongoing.

An angry wife has cut off her husband’s pns after he allegedly moaned another woman’s name while making love in Baguio City, Philippines.

The couple were said to be making love in their home last week when the husband allegedly moaned another woman’s name.

His raging 55-year-old wife waited for him to fall asleep before allegedly grabbing a knife from the kitchen and chopping off his pns.

Police shared images which show the severed tip and part of the shaft lying lifelessly on the mattress, with specks of blood.

It was gathered that neighbours rushed to the screaming man’s aid and took him to the hospital.

A spokesman for the Baguio City Police Station said: ‘Allegedly, the reason was jealousy, because the wife claimed her husband was a womanizer.

Sudanese security authorities have ordered all foreigners to leave the capital, Khartoum and the surrounding region.

According to a statement from the section of the police dealing with foreigners, they have two weeks to vacate the capital city.

Foreigners should leave for their own safety amid the fighting still raging between government troops and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia, the police said.

According to media reports, hostility towards foreigners, especially those from other African countries, has been on the rise following reports of foreign mercenaries in the RSF ranks.

Just a few days ago, more than 150 foreigners who did not have valid residence papers were detained.

A bloody power struggle has been raging in Sudan for more than a year between de facto ruler Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, Mohammed Hamdan Daglo.

According to the UN, the conflict has caused almost 10 million people to flee their homes, and risks a famine in the country.

International aid organization staff and diplomats still in the country left Khartoum after the outbreak of fighting and are now working from Port Sudan, where the situation is comparatively stable.

The collapse of a hostel wall at the National Youth Service Corps orientation camp in Ise-Emure, Ekiti has injured an unspecified number of corps members.

It was gathered the bathroom wall of one of the female hostels reportedly collapsed Friday morning, injuring corps members who were planning to take their baths.

The victims who are currently in the camp for the three-week compulsory orientation for the one-year national youth service were rushed to the clinic for further medical treatments.

Meanwhile, the management of NYSC has called for calm, saying the situation was under control.

The NYSC management in a reaction posted on its official handle on X (formerly Twitter), @officialnyscng, on Friday, said: “Management wishes to inform the general public about the collapsed convenience that occurred in the early hours of today, Friday 12th July 2024, at Ekiti State Orientation Camp in Ise-Orun, Emure Ekiti, that the situation is under control.”

Kenyan President William Ruto has dismissed with “immediate effect” all his ministers and the attorney-general, following the recent deadly protests that led to the withdrawal of an unpopular tax bill.

The president said the move came after “reflection, listening to Kenyans, and after holistic appraisal of my cabinet”.

He has said he will now consult widely in order to set up a broad-based government.

The dissolution of his cabinet does not affect the deputy president, who can’t legally be fired, and the prime cabinet secretary who is also the foreign affairs minister.

The arraignment of Mr Saleh Mamman, former Minister of Power under ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, was, on Thursday, stalled after he collapsed outside the courtroom of the Federal High Court, Abuja.

Mamman, whose plea was fixed for Thursday morning, collapsed before the case was called.

NAN reports that the former minister’s counsel, Femi Ate, SAN, told Justice James Omotosho shortly when the matter was called for Mamman to take his plea.

Olumide-Fusika said he had a discussion with Ate outside the courtroom about Mamman’s ill-health.

“I was informed of an incident outside. I will want my learned senior advocate to tell the honourable court himself,” he said.

Speaking, Ate said Mamman, “upon being brought into the premises of the court, he collapsed and had to be resuscitated and treated by the medical personnel of the Federal High Court.”

Upon resumed hearing, the ex-minister walked into the courtroom and stepped into the dock with part of his clothes drenched.

Justice Omotosho then asked why Mamman was sweating or whether it was raining outside.

The former minister, who responded from the dock, said water was poured on him.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)’s lawyer, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, SAN, while addressing the court, said though the matter was fixed for Mamman’s arraignment, there was a development outside the courtroom.

He said his client was served with the charge after he was resuscitated.

“He was served this morning,” he added.

The senior lawyer said he sought the understanding of Olumide-Fusika for an adjournment so that the arraignment could be done on Monday when his client would have been okay.

But the judge said due to the workload in the court dockets, the arraignment could only be fixed for September ending.

Ate then withdrew the oral application for an adjournment.

Olumide-Fusika said he had just filed an amended charge earlier in the morning following a mistake in the name of the defendant and prayed the court that the fresh charge be read to Mamman to take his plea but Justice Omotosho disagreed with him.

The judge, however, asked Mamman if he was fit enough to take his plea today, and he responded in the affirmative.

The former minister explained to the court that he collapsed outside the courtroom because of the drugs he took when he had not eaten, and while he was outside the courtroom waiting to be called, his blood pressure dropped.

Mamman, however, said he was fit to continue with the arraignment.

“It can happen to anyone,” the judge said.

The ex-minister told the court that he called the attention of his lawyer to the error made by the EFCC on the name in the charge served on him.

“I was complaining about the name, that it was not my own,” he said.

Justice Omotosho then stepped down the arraignment until 1pm today.

Operatives of the Nasarawa State Police Command, attached to Karshi Divisional Headquarters, have arrested the two suspected criminals, Chigozie Jerry, 29, and Chigozie Junior Chigozie, 19, for breaking into Government Secondary School, Karshi, and stealing computers and other items.

According to a statement made available to newsmen in Nasarawa on Thursday by the Command’s Public Relations Officer, DSP Ramhan Nansel, the arrest was based on credible information received from public spirited persons.

Nansel added, “Consequently, 1 inverter, 7 Central Processing Unit (CPU), 5 Computer Keyboards, 7 Monitors, 3 Mouse, a change-over switch, and one Solar Battery were recovered from the suspects as exhibits.”

The police spokesman noted that the Commissioner of Police, CP Nadada Shehu Umar, commended members of the public for providing credible and timely information, urging them not to relent.

He stated that the CP has directed the Divisional Police Officer to immediately charge the suspects to court for prosecution once investigation is concluded.

The CP equally assured the public of outmost confidentiality whenever information is provided to the Police.

The UN Support Mission in Libya said on Wednesday it was deeply concerned by reports of the recent abduction of a political activist whose whereabouts remain unknown.

Al-Moatassim Al-Areebi, 29, was abducted on Monday in the north-western city of Misrata, located roughly 187 kilometres east of the capital;Tripoli.

UNSMIL, in a statement, reiterated the call by members of the Misrata Municipal Council and community representatives, urging the city’s security and law enforcement agencies to urgently investigate his abduction.

It also asked the law enforcement agencies to disclose the activist’s whereabouts, and secure his safe and immediate release.

The mission has documented cases of at least 60 individuals currently detained across Libya for actual or perceived political affiliation.

“The mission calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all people who are arbitrarily detained, and accountability for those who are responsible for those arbitrary detentions,” the statement said.

Reports of arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, ill-treatment, torture, and deaths in custody committed with impunity continue to plague Libya.

These unlawful practices have created a climate of fear, shrinking civic space, and eroding the rule of law.

Pakistan has announced its willingness to stretch the stay of 1.45 million Afghan refugees by one more year.

The government said Wednesday it will extend the registration cards of the nearly 1.5 million Afghan refugees after a senior UN official appealed to the country to pause its deportation plan.

“The federal cabinet approved a one-year extension of the validity of POR (Proof of Registration) cards of 1.45 million Afghan refugees,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement at the end of a cabinet meeting on Wednesday

The office said the affected refugees’ PoR cards expired over a week ago, on June 30, but that extension has now been granted until June 30, 2025.

Afghans cherish their stay in Pakistan and are hurt when pushed out by their host country.

Quite a number of those asked to go are defiant, insisting they are not returning to Afghanistan.

The new lease of life for the Afghans in Pakistan is a product of a discussion on the status of the refugees between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the chief of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi, who visited Pakistan days ago.

Pakistan has been a major host country for Afghan refugees since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.

There was a lull after a while, but a further influx started when the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan in August 2021, when an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 Afghans sought refuge in neighbouring Pakistan.

Troubled by the large number of refugees, Pakistan last year launched a repatriation programme to return millions of Afghans.

Government sources have it that Pakistan currently hosts nearly three million Afghans, out of whom almost 1.5 million hold a UNHCR Proof of Residence card and another 800,000 possess an Afghan Citizenship Card.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, will on Thursday, July 11, arraign a former Minister of Power, Saleh Mamman, before Justice J. K. Omotosho for alleged N33 billion money laundering offences.

According to an insider at the commission, Mamman would be arraigned on a 12-count charge bordering on conspiracy to commit money laundering and possession and use of known proceeds of criminal conduct.

The charge documents signed by the prosecution counsel, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, SAN, and others, read that counts 1-2 border on conspiracy to commit money laundering; counts 3-4 border on money laundering by cash payment in excess of the lawful limit;

count 5 borders on purchase of landed property with cash payment; while counts 6–12 border on possession and use of known proceeds of criminal conduct.

The investigation spanned from 2019 to 2022 when he was a minister under former President Muhammadu Buhari.

Yobe State Police Command has arrested Mallam Auwalu Haruna, a self-proclaimed marabout, for alleged abduction and impregnation of a 20-year-old lady.

According to the Command’s Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Dungus Abdulkarim, the police recorded 34 cases of gender-based violence (GBV) and related crimes between January and June 2024, with 85% currently undergoing trial and a few convictions secured.

He stated that the latest incident came to light when the Tarmuwa Divisional Police Headquarters received a complaint from Alhaji Mohammed Kellu that his daughter had been abducted by Mallam Auwalu Haruna on June 6, 2024.

Following a thorough search, the victim was found in the suspect’s custody in Anguwan Arewa, Gaya LGA, Kano State.

A medical examination revealed that she was two months pregnant.

The victim disclosed that she was coerced into drinking a medicinal concoction, which rendered her unconscious and vulnerable to the perpetrator’s actions.

He added that the State CID has launched an investigation into the incident.

Members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU, and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities, NASU, Federal University Lokoja, FUL, staged a peaceful protest on Tuesday to demand the payment of their withheld four-month salaries by the Federal Government.

The two unions, while expressing their displeasure over the inability of the present administration to pay their outstanding salaries, vowed that they would not have any other option than to go on total strike if the Federal Government refused to meet their demands.

The protest, which was held at the main campus of the university in the Felele area of Lokoja, witnessed a large turnout of members of the two unions.

The protesting workers marched through the campus with placards bearing various inscriptions, calling on the Federal Government to release their withheld salaries and implement their other outstanding demands.

Addressing members, the chairman of SSANU, FUL branch, Comrade Adedeji Kazeem Suarau, called on the Federal Government to hasten the implementation of their demands to avoid a total breakdown of university education.

He said the withheld salaries were due to the implementation of the ‘No Work, No Pay’ policy of the government under former President Muhammadu Buhari.

Suarau said: “All the university unions went on strike in 2022 because the then President Muhammadu Buhari invoked the no-work, no-pay rule.”

He said when President Tinubu came on board, he pardoned and gave approval that the withheld salaries be paid, but to their dismay, their sister union, ASUU, members were paid while the other non-teaching staff were left out.

He said that after inquiries, SSANU and NASU were told that approval was still being expected but up until now, the Federal Government has refused to pay.

He said the promotion arrears of members of the two unions have also been lingering since 2018, saying some members were paid while many were left out.

“The economy is biting on our members as even the wage awards to cushion the effect of the removal of subsidy was not being paid, running into four months,” he said.

He urged the Federal Government to wake up to its responsibility by paying all their outstanding salaries and allowances.

An Ekiti State High Court sitting in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, has sentenced one Olukayode Dayo, a former officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps to life imprisonment over an offence of rape.

The 39- year-old convict was arraigned before Justice Lekan Olatawura on May 13, 2022 on one count charge bordering on rape.

The charge reads that Olukayode Dayo on December 25, 2021 at Ado-Ekiti within the jurisdiction of Ado-Ekiti court did rape a 13-year-old girl names withheld.

According to the charge, the offence is contrary to section 31(2) of the Child’s Rights Law, Cap. C7, Laws of Ekiti State, 2012.

In his statement to the police, the victim said, “I lived with my grandmother. I was sent home to bring bananas and kolanut, on my way home, one man called Olukay (the defendant) crossed me with his motorcycle. He dropped the banana and kolanut on my head and carried me to a fenced uncompleted building.

“I shouted but he did not listen to me. He removed my pants and started having s*x with me. A passerby who heard my voice entered the compound. He then took to his heels on sighting the man. The man chased him but he was unable to catch him. He returned and took me to my grandmother and explained what happened to her.”

To prove his case, the prosecutor, Julius Ajibare called six witnesses and tendered the defendant’s statement, photographs of the victim and medical report as exhibits.

The defendant, who spoke in his own defence through his counsel, Oluwaseun Oyebanji, denied committing the offence.

But he pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy and he called no witness.

Delivering his judgment, Justice Lekan Olatawura said, in the event, the victim consistently, unequivocally and unshakingly stated that the defendant who was well known to her was the person who raped her.

“In all, I find proof beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant raped the 13- year-old girl on December 25, 2021 and consequent thereupon, I find him guilty as charged. Consequent upon the foregoing, the defendant is sentenced to life imprisonment,” the judge ruled.

Russia has strongly rejected claims of the country’s alleged attack on a children’s hospital in Kyiv, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.

Mr Peskov said Russian strikes were carried out against critical infrastructure and military targets related to Ukraine’s military potential.

He denied any attacks on civilian targets and said a falling Ukrainian anti-missile struck the hospital.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that “many eyewitnesses and other sources ”have confirmed the hospital had been hit by a Western-made surface-to-air missile from the Ukrainian air defence system that went off course.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Telegram said the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital in Kyiv was hit by a Russian missile on Monday, adding that the strikes had killed 38 people and injured 190, according to preliminary information.

A Palestinian activist known for organising anti-Hamas protests in Gaza has been taken to hospital after an attack by a group of masked men.

Amin Abed, 35, was admitted in critical condition after being kidnapped near his home by five assailants on Monday afternoon.

A well-known activist, Mr Abed told the BBC: “I will not stop using my right to express my rejection of the 7 October attack.”

Public dissent against Hamas has grown in recent months as residents of Gaza grow angry at the huge toll inflicted on the enclave since the start of the war.

More than 38,240 people have been killed, including 50 in the past day, in Gaza, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry, since Israel began its offensive following Hamas’s unprecedented 7 October attack.
‘Armed with machetes’
Mr Abed described being kidnapped near his house by a group of five men who were armed with guns and machetes.

He was taken to a semi-demolished house, beaten, and called “an agent for Israel” and “a traitor”.

The leader of the group told Mr Abed’s assailants to break his fingers so he could not again write criticism of Hamas or “the heroic events of 7 October”.

After a group of passers-by attempted to intervene, the attackers fired shots into the air and told them to stay away, claiming they were from Hamas security forces.

Eventually, the assailants left and bystanders were able to take Mr Abed to a hospital.

Mr Abed is considered a popular figure. Before the war, had been arrested multiple times for speaking out against Hamas rule.

On Monday morning, Mr Abed wrote a long criticism of Hamas on Facebook, accusing the group of “dividing the Palestinian people” and “quashing their dream of a state”.

“We are tired, world,” he wrote, “we are really tired.”

Last week, in an interview with the BBC, he said: “[Hamas] has a lot of support among those outside Gaza’s border, who are sitting under air conditioners in their comfortable homes, who have not lost a child, a home, a future, a leg.”

Days earlier, he criticised Hamas in an interview with Saudi TV channel Al Arabiya. A clip from the interview was picked up on TikTok.

In 2019, Mr Abed helped organise protests over the state of Gaza’s economy.

Fatah, the ruling party in the West Bank and political rival of Hamas, released a statement on Monday condemning “the blatant assault on activist Amin Abed in Gaza”.

It did not name Hamas, but said the “de facto authorities in Gaza” had allowed “criminality” to spread in the enclave and held them fully responsible for Abed’s well-being.

Hamas violently ousted Fatah from the Gaza Strip in 2007, a year after winning national elections, reinforcing its power there and deepening a schism between the two dominant Palestinian groups.

Gaza’s Hamas-run police force has largely disappeared from the streets since the start of the war because of being targeted in Israeli air strikes, though the group remains the official authority in the territory.

The Osun State Police Command has intervened to resolve the recent masquerade crisis that erupted between Apomu and Ikoyi communities.

This was disclosed by the Command’s spokesperson, Yemisi Opalola in a statement made available to journalists on Tuesday in Osogbo.

The statement revealed that during the peace and security meeting which brought together leaders and representatives from both communities Monday, the Osun Commissioner of Police, CP Mohammed Umar Abba, urged both parties to settle their differences and work towards harmonious coexistence.

Those present at the peace meeting include Special Adviser to Governor Ademola Adeleke on Rural Water and Environmental Sanitation Agency, Lanre Odelade, chairmen of the two local government councils in the area, High Chiefs and leaders of the OPC from both communities.

CP Umar Abba also admonished both communities to shun violence in resolving their grievances, noting that communication and dialogue were keys to resolving conflict and building harmonious relationship.

“I want you to address your differences and work towards a harmonious coexistence.

“The two communities should shun any act of violence in resolving their grievance. Communication and dialogue are keys to resolving conflict and building harmonious relationship.”

One person died and houses were razed after the Egungun masquerade festival led to a clash between two communities – Ikoyi and Apomu in Isokan LGA of the state.

It was learnt that on Sunday, June 23, 2024, the masquerade festival which began the previous Thursday, June 20, in the two neighbouring communities on a very good note went awry and led to a brawl.

Also, it was learnt that some masqueraders who are also members of the Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC, from Ikoyi, invaded Oja Oba area of Apomu during the Egungun festival.

Meanwhile, in their separate responses, the representatives from both communities appreciated CP Umar Abba and the Police officers serving in their communities for their prompt response in resolving the crisis.

They also promised to allow peace to reign and to continue to live in harmony.

The statement revealed that representatives of both communities were made to sign a peace accord after the meeting.