World

The UN World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that cuts to international aid and persistent funding gaps are undermining the global health system. WHO Director-General, Tedros Ghebreyesus, stated this while addressing the WHO Executive Board in Geneva on Monday, saying, “this is occurring as the risk from pandemics, drug-resistant infections and fragile health services are on the rise.” Ghebreyesus, however, …

Heads of State and Government of Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Representatives of Burkina Faso, Mali. Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, and Togo have called for frameworks on tackling common sub-regional challenges. They disclosed this in a communique’ issued against the backdrop of the high-level consultative conference on Regional Cooperation and Security held in Accra, Ghana from Thursday to Friday. The meeting …

Some Nigerians have gone into hiding and others are returning home secretly over the intensified deportation campaign led by President Donald Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Saturday PUNCH learnt that many immigrants had stopped going to work as Trump reiterated his support for ICE actions. The sweeping actions, which include house-to-house enforcement raids, have stirred panic, debate and protest, particularly …

  Lindsey Graham blocks Trump-backed deal aimed at avoiding shutdown Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin reports on Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., blocking President Donald Trump’s efforts to prevent a partial government shutdown, as the ‘Outnumbered’ co-hosts weigh in. The federal government is shutting down for the second time in six months after Congress failed to reach an agreement on the …

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has told member states that the organisation faced “imminent financial collapse” amid unpaid annual dues and other issues. Guterres, in a letter he sent to UN member states, called on them to address unpaid dues and overhaul global body’s financial rules. “The crisis is deepening, threatening programme delivery and risking financial collapse. “And the situation will …

Burkina Faso’s military-led government has dissolved all political parties and scrapped the legal framework governing their operations. This is going by a decree approved by the West African nation’s council of ministers on Thursday. The decision by the military rulers who seized power in September 2022 is the latest move to tighten control following the suspension of political activities after …

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is calling on the Trump administration to place Egypt on a watch list after a Christian man was sentenced to five years in prison with hard labor for allegedly violating the country’s blasphemy laws “for his online content critical of Islam.” “Egypt is systematically enforcing laws, policies, and judicial decisions that repress …

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said that a constructive meeting had taken place with high-ranking U.S. officials to resolve the dispute over Greenland, and that further meetings are planned. Rasmussen, however, told Danish media on Thursday that the situation has not been resolved. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that Denmark, Greenland, and the U.S. had …

Bipartisan senators blocked a massive spending bill Thursday, as eleventh-hour talks continue to avoid a costly partial government shutdown that looms at the week’s end. All Democrats, who are pushing to force changes to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement policies in the wake of Alex Pretti’s fatal encounter with federal agents in Minneapolis, voted not to advance the six-bill funding …

  China has executed 11 members of the notorious Ming family criminal gang, who ran mafia-like scam centers in Myanmar and killed workers who tried to escape, Chinese state media reported on Thursday. The Ming family was one of the so-called four families of northern Myanmar — crime syndicates accused of running hundreds of compounds dealing in internet fraud, prostitution …