A Spanish lottery vendor has been handed a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence after a court found he cheated the winner of a €4.7 million jackpot out of the prize in 2012, according to court documents. The court in A Coruña, in northwestern Spain, said the vendor understood the scale of the win when the customer asked him to check the numbers. Instead of telling the truth, however, he misled the ticket-holder and said that none of the numbers had matched. Judges found that the vendor then attempted to claim the jackpot…

Boko Haram factions, alongside various extremist organizations, are increasingly harnessing TikTok and other social media channels for their propaganda efforts, taunting authorities while sharing content related to kidnappings and acts of violence—a troubling trend that raises alarms about digital security in Nigeria. A recent online video associated with Boko Haram depicted captured individuals, accusing the government of downplaying casualty statistics before it was swiftly taken down. This incident illustrates a…

By Dr. Ali Said Faqi Thursday June 11, 2026 Somalia’s politics have a familiar pattern: failure is repackaged, then presented as renewal. That dynamic is again on display with Adan Mohamed Nur “Madobe,” whose installation as the so-called president of Southwest State has been widely denounced in the region as the product of a federal-orchestrated sham election. This account traces the background, political conduct, and legacy that have followed Adan Madobe throughout his long public life. From the outset, his career has…

As the crisis in the Central Sahel fades from media attention, the United Nations has revealed a grim reality: millions are in desperate need of humanitarian aid. The challenges of civilian displacement, climate disruptions, and widespread hunger are rapidly transcending national borders, creating a regional emergency. According to UN reports, armed factions are extending their reach throughout the Central Sahel and the Lake Chad Basin, leaving communities devoid of governance and safety. Particularly vulnerable are…

By Abdirahim Husu MohamedSunday June 7, 2026 History offers a blunt warning: societies rarely dread order; they dread disruption. Yet time and again, nations that have managed to remake themselves have done so by moving through uncertainty on the way to lasting stability and growth. From the Industrial Revolution to the shift from monarchy to democracy, from the end of apartheid to sweeping economic reform, change has almost always arrived with unease. It unsettles people. It invites resistance. It can sharpen political…

The gunfire that rattled Mogadishu was more than another burst of Somalia’s long-running insecurity. It marked the first armed eruption of a constitutional fight that has been simmering for more than two years. On the surface, the confrontation centers on elections, a subject that has repeatedly upended Somali politics. The federal government says constitutional reforms and electoral changes are needed to move the country toward universal suffrage. The opposition, by contrast, accuses President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of using…

Standing on the Normandy coast, where Allied troops once fought their way onto Europe’s shores, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth cast today’s immigration pressures as a new kind of threat, warning that dangerous ideologies were now arriving by sea. The comments fit squarely within the broader message from President Donald Trump’s administration, which has repeatedly argued that Europe is being weakened by inadequate defences, failure to confront immigration, excessive bureaucracy and what it describes as the "censorship" of…

In a significant twist to a long-running legal saga, Minister of Justice Mmamoloko Kubayi said Home Affairs would lift the five-year entry ban on Nigerian evangelist Pastor Timothy Omotoso if the National Prosecuting Authority succeeds in its attempt to appeal his acquittal on sexual offences charges. Omotoso was declared an undesirable person in South Africa and handed a five-year ban in May 2025, after which he left the country voluntarily. The move came on the heels of his acquittal following a seven-year trial on…

South Africa will begin offering the twice-yearly HIV prevention shot lenacapavir (LEN) on June 5, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi announced, hailing a major step forward in the fight against the virus. For individuals who are HIV-negative, the long-acting injection has proven to be almost completely effective at preventing sexual transmission. But new drugs alone won’t end the epidemic, argue Mitchell Warren, executive director of the international health advocacy group AVAC, and Wawira Nyagah, executive director of…

In a milestone moment for victims of Libya's long-running violence, the International Criminal Court has opened a three-day hearing for Khaled Mohamed Ali El Hishri, who stands accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. El Hishri is the first individual from Libya to be brought before the ICC since the United Nations Security Council sent the Libyan situation to the court's prosecutor in 2011, marking a significant step in efforts to hold perpetrators accountable for atrocities committed during the country's…