French Green party lawmakers on Thursday filed a no-confidence motion against the government over its handling of a severe heatwave in late June, as the country braces for a third possible bout of extreme temperatures next week. The motion, backed by 32 Green lawmakers, 25 hard-left France Unbowed lawmakers and one Socialist lawmaker, was expected to be discussed at the National Assembly on July 6, a spokesperson for the Green party at the National Assembly told Reuters. The bid to topple Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu’s minority government is unlikely to succeed. The National Rally has already said it will not…
Author: Oki Bin Oki
At the entrance to the vast religious complex where Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s body is set to lie in state from Saturday, dozens were hard at work under an intense heatwave to prepare for the slain supreme leader’s grand funeral. Security was on high alert ahead of the start of the funerary activities for Iran’s ruler of three decades, with dozens of personnel stationed at the main entrance to the Grand Mosalla, methodically stopping each car in the vicinity. Passengers must present a special permit to enter the premises, which have yet to be opened to the public. AFP obtained special…
AWS and Microsoft want to embed thousands of their own engineers at client companies to help them capitalize on artificial intelligence, which has yet to prove its profitability in the business world. Microsoft announced Thursday the creation of a unit called Microsoft Frontier Company, which is backed by a $2.5 billion investment and brings together 6,000 experts and engineers. The new Microsoft entity comes as rival AWS, the world’s leading cloud provider, announced Tuesday a similar $1 billion investment in an organization called Forward Deployed Engineering, also tasked with dispatching thousands of engineers to help clients. The two cloud giants…
Google has exceeded a five-year target to invest $1 billion in Africa, it said on Wednesday, as it made public initiatives on infrastructure and development of AI to accelerate the continent’s digital growth. They follow on from Google’s launch of a cloud for the Johannesburg region in 2025. Here are the details of the new initiatives that Google, owned by Alphabet, announced at the first Africa Cloud Summit in Johannesburg. Google will establish a connectivity hub in South Africa’s Eastern Cape, the first of four planned connectivity hubs on the continent. The facility will link Africa to Australia via the…
Pubs in England and Wales will now be allowed to stay open until 05:00 on Monday, allowing football fans to watch the Three Lions’ World Cup clash with Mexico to the final whistle. The round-of-16 match in Mexico City kicks off at 01:00 UK time. The government had initially said it would not relax licensing laws further than they already have been for the World Cup. But in a U-turn later on Thursday, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said pubs could stay open until the final whistle. Monday’s match is not expected to finish until after 03:00. Sir Keir said…
Three people have been sentenced to life in prison by a South African court for the kidnapping, robbing and murder of a British couple in February 2018. Rachel Saunders, 64, and her husband Rodney, 73, were kidnapped while in the Ngoye Forest, 150km (93 miles) north of the port city of Durban. The British botanists had been collecting indigenous plants and seeds, before their bodies were found days later in a river. Saffydeen Aslam del Vecchio, 46, his wife Fatima Patel, 35, and Malawian national Ahmad Mussa were convicted of the murders last month and were each sentenced to two…
The Vatican has excommunicated followers of a conservative Catholic splinter sect, the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), a day after it consecrated four new bishops in Geneva against Pope Leo XIV’s direct instruction. In a decree, it said the Society’s total of six bishops were excommunicated – and, in a highly unusual move, it added that any lay members who “formally adhere” to the group “are to be considered schismatic and excommunicated”. But those who left the SSPX would be welcomed back “with sincere affection”. The Vatican later clarified that not all members would be excommunicated automatically, but those…
Deputy President Kithure Kindiki assured the country that the government is laying down adequate measures in anticipation of El Nino rains expected in Kenya later in the year. He said the administration is proactively engaged with all the respective actors to make sure the country is not caught by surprise after latest weather forecasts pointed to the strong likelihood of the heavy rains between October and December. “We assure the country that there is no need to panic. We are engaging all the ministries, departments, agencies and all state organs to ensure that in the event of the rains, the…
The State has urged the High Court to dismiss a habeas corpus application seeking the production of missing businessman Abdiaziz Duba Molu alias Zizou arguing that investigations indicate unknown individuals abducted him and is not being held by the police. Appearing for the Inspector General of Police, lawyer Thande Kuria told the court that detectives had found no evidence linking any police unit to Abdiaziz’s disappearance and asked the court to allow investigations to continue. “The witnesses stated that Zizou was singled out, forced into the other vehicle and driven away to an unknown destination,” Kuria submitted. According to the…
A diplomatic row has erupted between South Africa and Ghana, over claims that a Ghanaian man was killed during anti-migrant protests, which South African officials deny. Ghana’s Foreign Affairs ministry said it had received with “profound shock” reports that Bashiru Isak, 40, had been shot dead on Tuesday in Cape Town’s Khayelitsha’s township. It said it had sent a formal protest note and filed a complaint with the police. South Africa’s justice minister responded by expressing concern “that Ghanaian authorities continue to communicate false information about South Africa regarding developments on irregular migration”. The police said they had “no record…
Separatist rebels say they have shot dead a US pilot and set his plane on fire in Indonesia’s Papua region. The West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) say they killed Nicholas F Gosselin after he landed in the Highland Papua province on Thursday. The separatists claim civilian pilots have been ferrying Indonesian troops into the region, and said Gosselin’s death sent “a message”. Indonesian officials confirmed that Gosselin’s plane had been found burnt, but said it was unclear what happened to him or his seven passengers on board. The killing comes after years of conflict between the Indonesian government and…
Nine Buddhist monks were killed and several others in their procession injured when they were hit by an 11-year-old boy driving his parents’ pickup truck in north-east Thailand, police said. The group of 35 monks and five lay followers were walking along a road in Mukdahan province during a pilgrimage when the incident occurred. Footage posted online shows saffron robes and belongings scattered by the roadside, and a wrecked vehicle. Five of the monks died at the scene and four others later in hospital, according to police. They said the boy took the pickup without permission before losing control and…
A man was rescued alive after being trapped for eight days in the rubble of a building that collapsed after twin earthquakes in Venezuela. Emergency workers managed to free Hernán Gil more than 100 hours after they had first located him under 140 tonnes of rubble. A Chilean firefighter had earlier described the rescue operation as “without doubt the most complex and technically difficult which I’ve had to tackle”. Almost 2,300 people are confirmed to have died in the quakes which hit Venezuela on 24 June, and tens of thousands are still missing. Hundreds of rescuers had been working against…
Kenya and Italy Thursday signed a Letter of Intent aimed at strengthening cooperation in preventing and combating crime, marking another milestone in the growing security partnership between the two countries. The Letter of Intent, signed between Kenya’s Ministry of Interior and National Administration and Italy’s Ministry of the Interior, establishes a framework for enhanced collaboration between the two ministries and their respective police agencies in addressing crime, including transnational organised crime. Speaking during the signing ceremony, Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen said Kenya welcomes Italy’s integrated approach that recognizes the close relationship between development, migration management and security. Under the arrangement,…
European automakers called Wednesday for British vehicles and car parts to fall under the definition of “made in Europe” set out by new rules aiming to bolster the bloc’s industries. Britain currently risks being shut out of the scope of plans unveiled by Brussels in March tying companies’ access to public money to minimum thresholds for EU-made parts in their products. “The European automotive industry operates a deeply integrated value chain with the UK, even post-Brexit,” European car lobby ACEA said. “Vehicles, components and batteries made in the UK should therefore hold the same status as those made in the…