Author: Elizabeth Jenrola Oso

Tens of thousands of demonstrators packed into Madrid’s Plaza de España on Sunday, calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and an immediate general election amid a growing wave of corruption scandals engulfing his government, party, and family. Organised by the opposition conservative People’s Party (PP), the protest took place under the charged slogan “Mafia or Democracy,” drawing between 45,000 and 50,000 people, according to official estimates. Organisers, however, claimed attendance topped 100,000. Pedro Sánchez’s Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) has been rocked by a cascade of corruption accusations in recent months. The latest controversy surrounds Leire Díaz,…

A former police chief serving time for murder and rape was recaptured Friday, nearly two weeks after a dramatic escape from an Arkansas prison. Grant Hardin, dubbed the “Devil in the Ozarks,” was apprehended around 3:45 p.m. near Moccasin Creek, just over a mile from the Calico Rock prison where he had been held since 2017. Authorities say Hardin escaped the North Central Unit on May 25 by disguising himself in what appeared to be a law enforcement uniform. Izard County Sheriff Brandon Long confirmed the arrest in a statement, assuring the public that “there is no longer an active…

Renowned Nigerian highlife icon, Mike Ejeagha, popularly known as Gentleman Mike Ejeagha, has passed away at the age of 95 after a prolonged battle with prostate cancer. The music legend died on Friday night at 8 p.m. at the 32 Garrison Hospital in Enugu, marking the end of a towering era in Igbo folk music. His death was confirmed by his eldest son, Emma Ejeagha, who spoke with journalists on Saturday morning.  “My father passed away due to a long-standing ailment,” Emma said. “He died at exactly 8 p.m. on Friday, and his body has been deposited in the morgue.…

Federal immigration raids across Los Angeles on Friday triggered widespread protests and condemnation from community leaders, advocates, and residents. The coordinated sweeps, conducted by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), targeted multiple locations including Home Depot stores, a doughnut shop, and the Ambient Apparel headquarters in the Fashion District. Masked agents in tactical gear, some wearing gas masks, were seen pulling individuals from the premises, while demonstrators clashed with federal officers throughout the day. Videos from the scene showed smoke grenades and pepper spray being deployed, with some officers firing less-lethal weapons into crowds attempting to block armored federal vehicles.…

Iran has strongly condemned the United States’ newly reinstated travel ban targeting Iranian nationals and citizens of 11 other predominantly Middle Eastern and African countries, calling the policy a sign of “supremacist and racist” ideology in Washington. The travel ban, signed into effect by U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday, is set to take effect on June 9. The executive order revives sweeping restrictions reminiscent of the administration’s first-term travel ban, once again citing national security as justification. The latest measure follows a recent firebomb attack at a pro-Israel rally in Colorado, which injured more than a dozen people. The…

Kabul, Afghanistan’s sprawling capital of seven million residents, could become the first modern city to entirely run out of water by the end of this decade, according to a stark new report by international aid agency Mercy Corps. Years of rapid urbanisation, climate change, poor governance, and over-extraction have pushed Kabul’s aquifers to the edge. Water tables have plunged by as much as 30 metres over the past decade, while extraction outpaces natural recharge by an alarming 44 million cubic metres annually. Mercy Corps warns that if current trends persist, the city’s aquifers may be completely depleted by 2030, posing…

Prime Minister Mark Carney is defending his decision to invite Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the upcoming G7 summit in Alberta, despite a deepening diplomatic rift over the murder of a prominent Sikh activist on Canadian soil. Carney’s invitation comes just weeks after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police concluded that the June 2023 assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia, was orchestrated at the “highest levels” of the Indian government. Four Indian nationals residing in Canada have since been arrested and charged with the killing, which shattered bilateral relations and triggered reciprocal diplomatic expulsions last year. When…

A breakthrough by scientists at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity may have brought the world a step closer to a cure for HIV, after researchers found a novel way to force the virus out of hiding inside human cells. HIV’s ability to lie dormant within certain white blood cells has long been a formidable barrier to a cure. These “invisible” viral reservoirs evade both the immune system and antiretroviral drugs, allowing the virus to persist for life and potentially reactivate. Now, researchers say a new technique using mRNA, the same technology used in COVID-19 vaccines, could change…

BBC News in London have accused the Iranian government of escalating a campaign of harassment by punishing their families in Iran, as part of a wider attempt to silence journalists working for the broadcaster’s Persian service. It revealed this week that there has been a “sharp and deeply troubling escalation” in the targeting of its journalists’ families, describing the campaign as “psychological warfare” by the Iranian regime. BBC Persian, the Farsi-language arm of the BBC’s World Service, has long faced pressure from Tehran. But staff now say Iranian authorities have stepped up intimidation tactics, dragging relatives into interrogations, threatening them…

A senior legal expert at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has delivered a blistering critique of Hungary’s controversial 2021 law banning LGBTQ+ content in schools and on primetime television, declaring it a clear violation of basic human rights and freedom of expression. Tamara Ćapeta, advocate general at the ECJ, issued her non-binding opinion on Thursday, stating unequivocally that the legislation, enacted under the guise of child protection, is not rooted in scientific evidence but in prejudice against non-heterosexual and non-cisgender identities. “The stigmatising effects of the Hungarian legislation, which creates a climate of hostility towards LGBTI persons, may affect…