Author: Ohene Anochie

At least 28 people, including women and children, have been abducted by armed men in Nigeria’s central Plateau state while travelling to an annual Islamic gathering, according to local sources. The incident occurred on Sunday night when gunmen intercepted a commercial bus transporting passengers between rural communities. Witnesses said the attackers blocked the road, stopped the vehicle, and forcibly led passengers away at gunpoint. The whereabouts of the victims remain unknown, and authorities are yet to issue an official statement on the attack. Families Receive Ransom Demands A journalist based in Plateau state told the BBC that relatives of the…

Comoros’ national football team, popularly known as Les Cœlacanthes, carries a name that reaches far beyond sport. The nickname is drawn from the coelacanth, a rare fish species dating back more than 410 million years, which has become a powerful symbol of biodiversity, resilience and national identity for the Indian Ocean island nation. Locally called Gombessa, the coelacanth was long believed to be extinct until its dramatic rediscovery off the coast of South Africa in 1938. A second specimen found in Comoros waters in 1952 stunned the scientific world, rewriting biology textbooks and placing the small island nation at the…

The U.S. Senate’s top Democrat has called for legal action against the Justice Department following what he described as an inadequate and heavily redacted release of records related to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday introduced a resolution urging the Senate to file or join lawsuits to compel the Justice Department to fully comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The law, passed last month, required the department to disclose its Epstein-related records by a deadline that elapsed last Friday. “Instead of transparency, the Trump administration released a tiny fraction…

President Donald Trump is set to meet with senior national security officials on Monday amid an escalation of U.S. actions against Venezuela, including stepped-up efforts by the Coast Guard to intercept oil tankers accused of helping Caracas evade American sanctions. The meeting, to be held at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida where the president is vacationing, will include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Navy Secretary John Phelan. The White House described the gathering as a platform for a “major announcement,” with officials indicating Trump is expected to outline a new shipbuilding initiative. However, the timing…

As countries across Europe, Asia and Latin America move decisively to restrict or ban highly toxic weedkillers, questions are intensifying over why Ghana continues to allow the widespread use of chemicals that have been linked to serious health and environmental risks. Paraquat, one of the most controversial herbicides globally, has been banned across the European Union and in countries including China, Thailand, Brazil, Chile, Malaysia, Peru and Taiwan. The chemical is known for its extreme toxicity, frequent involvement in fatal poisonings and the absence of an effective antidote. Glyphosate, while not universally prohibited, has faced restrictions or phased reductions in…

An increasingly urgent debate is emerging within Israeli and Jewish policy circles over how the state should respond to what analysts describe as a coordinated effort by Iran and allied Islamist networks to expand violent extremism beyond the Middle East and into Jewish communities worldwide. In a sharply worded editorial circulating among security commentators, Iran is accused of accelerating a strategy often described as the “globalization of the intifada,” combining militant proxy networks with psychological and information warfare to destabilize societies far beyond Israel’s borders. The argument presented is that traditional defensive measures, including border fortifications and reactive intelligence, are…

An open letter circulating in Australia’s public space has called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to resign, following the deadly antisemitic terror attack during a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach that left multiple people dead and dozens injured. The letter, signed by Peter Singer, describes the Bondi attack as a national tragedy and a moral breaking point for the country, arguing that Australia has experienced a sharp rise in antisemitism and social division in recent years. It frames the attack as part of a broader failure of political leadership and national cohesion. In the strongly worded message addressed directly to…

A growing wave of public criticism has emerged across Ghana’s social media space, with many young people questioning what they describe as selective justice by state authorities in handling crime and extradition cases. The debate intensified following a recent joint operation involving the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Ghana’s National Security, the Ministry of Communication, and the Cybercrime Unit, which led to the arrest of an alleged romance scam suspect popularly known as Abu Tricker. The suspect is accused of defrauding U.S. nationals of approximately $8 million over a three-year period and now faces possible extradition. While acknowledging that cybercrime…

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reaffirmed Israel’s commitment to decisive military action against any violations of the ceasefire with Hamas, following the killing of senior Hamas operative Raad Saad, whom Israeli authorities describe as a central architect of the October 7 attacks. Speaking at a special government meeting in Dimona, Netanyahu said the operation was carried out on his directive and that of Defense Minister Israel Katz. He identified Saad as a key figure behind Hamas’s military buildup in Gaza and a leading planner of what he called the “Jericho Wall” extermination plan. According to the prime minister, Saad was…

As the Jewish community marked the first night of Hanukkah, tributes and messages of solidarity emerged following a deadly attack in Sydney that left several people dead and injured, casting a shadow over the start of the festival. Hanukkah, often described as the Festival of Lights, commemorates resilience, faith and the triumph of light over darkness. A photograph circulating from Sydney after the attack captured candles lit against the night, symbolizing unity and hope in the aftermath of violence. Observers noted that the image reflected the deeper meaning of Hanukkah: finding strength and light even in moments of profound grief.…