In the eastern Peloponnese town of Astros, a coastguard officer died after being struck by a wave while urging fishermen to leave the harbour. Hours later, a woman was killed in the Athens suburb of Glyfada when floodwater pushed a car into her. Winds topped 100 kilometres an hour in some areas, grounding ferries and forcing schools to close in Athens and parts of the west and south. Meteorologists said parts of the capital received the equivalent of six weeks of rain in a single day. Authorities urged people to avoid travel, while Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis postponed an overseas…
Author: Montage Africa
New Zealand was shaken on Thursday after a landslide tore through a seaside campground at the base of Mount Maunganui on the North Island. Emergency services were called shortly after 9.30 am when tonnes of earth slid into the Beachside Holiday Park, burying parts of the site. Several camper vans and a shower block were hit. Authorities say several people are missing at the campsite, including children. Local media report at least two deaths from a separate landslide linked to the same weather system. Rescue efforts continue, but unstable ground has slowed operations. The slide followed days of heavy rain,…
By Rédaction Africanews US President Donald Trump met on Wednesday with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The two discussed bringing together Egypt and Ethiopia to resolve a dispute over Ethiopia’s Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, as well as the US-led Board of Peace overseeing the Gaza peace deal. Later, Egypt’s foreign ministry said Wednesday that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has accepted an invitation from US President Donald Trump to join his “Board of Peace”. Egypt “announces its acceptance of the invitation and its commitment to fulfilling the relevant legal and constitutional procedures,” the…
By Rédaction Africanews Almost three years of war in Sudan have left more than eight million children out of education for nearly 500 days, the NGO Save the Children said Thursday, highlighting one of the world’s longest school closures. “More than eight million children –- nearly half of the 17 million of school age –- have gone approximately 484 days without setting foot in a classroom,” the children’s rights organisation said in a statement. Sudan has been ravaged since April 2023 by a power struggle between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). This is “one of the…
By Dominic Wabwireh with other sources At least eleven police officers were killed in a major jihadist assault in eastern Burkina Faso over the weekend, security sources confirmed, highlighting the persistent and deadly violence plaguing the country despite military claims of progress. Security sources told AFP that “several hundred jihadists” attacked a police detachment in Balga, located in the Gourma province of the East Region. The assault left seven officers dead at the scene, with four others later succumbing to their wounds. The Al-Qaeda-affiliated Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) claimed responsibility for the attack on the…
Winter conditions are hitting the Gaza Strip hard, where families in the Muwasi area of Khan Younis dig through rubbish to find plastic and paper for fires. At a nearby dump, men, women and children use bare hands to collect anything that can burn, as firewood and gas have become unaffordable. In fragile tents, these fires are used to cook meals and keep warm during cold January nights. Residents say fuel is scarce and often sold on the black market, while incomes have vanished after months of conflict. Burning waste fills tents with smoke, but many say they have no…
The life of Uganda’s veteran opposition figure Kizza Besigye is in danger, his wife has said after visiting him in prison. ”He is extremely weak,” said Winnie Byanyima in a statement posted on X. The 69-year-old politician had been taken overnight to a medical facility, the People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) party said, without specifying what he was suffering from. A prison service spokesperson denied that Besigye’s health was dire, describing his visit to a doctor as a “general check-up”. Besigye, a former personal doctor to President Yoweri Museveni and one of his longest-standing political rivals, has been in detention since…
Uganda’s opposition leader Bobi Wine has told the BBC he will not contest the results of Thursday’s election in court, citing a lack of confidence in the judiciary and has instead urged his supporters to take to the streets to peacefully protest. Speaking to the BBC from hiding, he said he would continue to stand up to President Yoweri Museveni despite concerns for his safety. “The judiciary in Uganda is captured and we encourage Ugandans to use any legal means to fight back and protect their democracy,” the 43-year-old former pop star said. Museveni, 81, won the vote by a…
By Rédaction Africanews and Agencies Residents of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu voiced their anger on Wednesday at remarks made by US president Donald Trump during his speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos. Trump disparaged Somalis living in America as “low-IQ” and dismissed Somalia as having “no government” and being “barely a state.” He singled out Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar for criticism—remarks that Somali officials and diaspora communities are calling racist, and ignorant. “Trump seems to be an international gangster who doesn’t care about international norms, diplomatic norms,” said local resident Said Ahmed. “He does a lot of things that…
South Africa’s Police Minister Firoz Cachalia has said that the security forces are not yet able to defeat deadly criminal gangs, in a stark admission that underscores the scale of the country’s crime crisis. Gang violence, alongside robberies, accounts for many murders in South Africa, which has one of the world’s highest homicide rates. Cachalia said gang violence had become increasingly complex, especially in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape provinces, requiring new strategies beyond traditional policing. “I do not believe that we are currently in a position to defeat these gangs,” the minister told journalists on Wednesday. South Africa,…