Senegal’s former Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, who was dramatically sacked on Friday by the president, has been elected Speaker of the national parliament setting up a possible source of conflict at the top of Senegalese politics. The West African nation’s current crisis follows months of tension between Sonko and his one-time ally President Bassirou Diomaye Faye. Parliament’s previous Speaker stepped down on Sunday to make way for the former prime minister, who is a popular figure and whose Pastef party has a majority of the seats in the National Assembly. On Monday, Faye appointed economist Ahmadou Al Aminou Lo to…
Author: Oki Bin Oki
In a late-breaking development from the Palais de la République, President Bassirou Diomaye Faye has appointed Mr. Ahmadou Al Aminou Lo as Senegal’s new Prime Minister. The announcement, carried by state broadcaster RTS, came just three days after the dismissal of Ousmane Sonko from the same role — a decision that has since reshaped the country’s political landscape. Who Is Ahmadou Al Aminou Lo? A career economist and former director of the Senegal branch of the BCEAO (Central Bank of West African States). Largely perceived as a technocrat with no overt partisan profile; prior to this appointment, he was not…
Controversial preacher Pastor Paul Mackenzie and his co-accused persons Monday gave their defence, with four accused persons testifying. The four testified before Senior Principal Magistrate Leah Juma in the terrorism-related case linked to the Shakahola tragedy. The defence hearing commences after the court ruled that Pastor Mackenzie and his 95 co-accused have a case to answer over allegations of organized crime and radicalization linked to the deaths of more than 450 followers in Shakahola forest, with the defence counsel informing the court that 19 witnesses will testify in favour of all the accused persons. During the proceedings, four accused persons…
Former President Uhuru Kenyatta Monday warned against what he termed rising “politics of division”. He urged leaders to focus on the cost of living and other issues uniting Kenyans, and cautioning that hate speech can quickly push the country back to the kind of tension witnessed during the 2007 post-election violence. Uhuru, who is the Jubilee Party leader, spoke on Monday at the Kiambu Golf Club where he met party delegates, using the forum to address both Jubilee’s internal challenges and the country’s wider political climate. He said Jubilee’s recent troubles were not self-inflicted, claiming they were engineered after he…
Iran says some progress has been reached in talks with the US, but a deal “is not imminent”. Foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baqai’s remarks came after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said an agreement could possibly be reached on Monday. “It is correct to say that we have reached a conclusion on a large portion of the issues under discussion,” Baqai said in Tehran on Monday. “But to say that this means the signing of an agreement is imminent – no-one can make such a claim.” The memorandum of understanding reportedly involves a 60-day ceasefire extension, reopening the Strait…
Violent clashes have erupted between inmates and security personnel at a prison in the Venezuelan state of Barinas. Extra security forces were deployed to the jail after prisoners climbed the roof and burned mattresses in protest at their alleged mistreatment. Witnesses reported hearing explosions and inmates said they had been shot at. Organisations lobbying for prisoners’ rights have long denounced the poor conditions at many of Venezuela’s penitentiaries. Non-governmental organisation Venezuelan Prison Observatory (OVP) said that the inmates at the jail, known as Injuba, had been complaining for more than a week about their treatment under the prison’s new director.…
A UK-bound EasyJet flight was diverted to Rome after a power bank was found to be charging in a passenger’s luggage, it has been revealed. Flight EZY2618 from Hurghada in Egypt to London Luton landed in the Italian capital on Tuesday night as a “precaution”. The airline said the captain had decided to divert “in line with safety regulations” after a passenger informed crew during the flight that the portable charger was in the hold of the aircraft. Many airlines have toughened rules on power banks, often requiring that they be stored in hand luggage because of the risk of…
Modern networks bear little resemblance to the environments that traditional security architectures were designed to protect. Workloads span multiple cloud providers and on-premises data centers simultaneously. Users access applications from locations that no corporate perimeter can encompass. Devices range from fully managed endpoints to personal mobile devices operating on uncontrolled networks. In this environment, security models built around network location and static perimeters do not just underperform they create structural vulnerabilities that adversaries have learned to exploit systematically. Zero trust network access addresses this reality at the architectural level. Understanding how does ZTNA work securely in modern network environments requires…
The Speaker of Senegal’s parliament El Malick Ndiaye has resigned from his post days after the country’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye sacked his mentor-turned-deputy, Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, and dissolved the government. Some now speculate there are plans to offer the vacant speaker post to Sonko by loyalists in defiance of the president. Senegal’s current crisis follows months of tension between Sonko and Faye. In a statement announcing his decision to resign as speaker on Sunday, Ndiaye said it came after “deep reflection” on “the sense of statehood”. “In public responsibilities as well as in the trials of national life,…
At least three people died after a vehicle collided with an elephant in a national park in Uganda, officials said. Police said four other people were injured in the incident in Murchison Falls National Park in the northwest of the country on Sunday evening. The vehicle was carrying seven officials from the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), it added. Car accidents are common in Uganda and incidents involving wildlife and humans are also on the rise, as expanding communities encroach on protected wildlife areas. The car had been travelling from Arua city back to the capital, Kampala, when the collision took…
Police in Embakasi launched investigations after the decomposing torso of a woman was discovered dumped in a polythene bag along North Airport Road near the airport fence. According to police the body was found a few metres off the road opposite a Rubis petrol station within the Embakasi area on Friday evening. Officers from the National Police Service visited the scene and confirmed that the remains were those of a female in an advanced state of decomposition. Police said the torso had been packed inside a Nigerian polythene bag, with preliminary observations suggesting the location may have been a secondary…
Turkish riot police forced their way into the headquarters of the country’s main opposition party on Sunday, days after a court dismissed its leadership. Clouds of tear gas billowed outside the Republican People’s Party (CHP) building in Ankara, where party members had blocked the entrances with a makeshift barricade. Footage from the scene showed those inside shouting and throwing objects towards the entrance, and police being sprayed with hoses. Party leader Özgür Özel had vowed to defy an appeal court decision on Thursday which declared his election null and void, in a move further cementing President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s grip…
The National Police Service reshuffled senior officers attached to the Presidential Escort Unit following the security breach that disrupted President William Ruto ’s public event in Kilifi County on Saturday. In the changes announced by Deputy Inspector General of the Kenya Police Service Eliud Lagat, senior officer William Sawe was moved from the Recce Company to take over as Commandant of the Presidential Escort Unit (PEU), replacing Noah Kirwa Maiyo. Maiyo has been recalled to Kenya Police Headquarters and deployed to the Vigilance Unit in the latest shake-up touching key officers in the presidential security team. The changes come hours…
The Premier League Is Special The Premier League is one league like no other. The games are really exciting. They are full of action from start to finish. Every weekend, millions of fans watch Manchester City and other clubs compete. They also watch Arsenal and Liverpool play. They watch Chelsea play, too. Every season of the games is exciting. You never know what will happen. In most countries, the cost of watching the Premier League officially is high. There is a significant number of fans out there that simply can’t afford it and feel left out. Jalalive is the Premier…
At least 20 people have been killed and 70 others injured in an explosion targeting a train transporting military personnel in Pakistan. The blast occurred while the train was travelling through Chaman Phatak station in Quetta, the capital of the western Balochistan region, on Sunday morning. Railway officials told BBC Urdu that three coaches and the engine were derailed while two were overturned. The shuttle service had primarily been transporting service personnel and their families who had been returning home for Eid. The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) separatist group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was a suicide bombing.…