Headline

Gabon Swears In Ex-junta Chief Oligui As President

Published

2 months ago

May 3, 2025

Gabon began swearing in on Saturday President-elect Brice Oligui Nguema, who led a coup ending decades of Bongo family rule and swept polls last month with nearly 95 percent of the vote.

The general and former junta leader, who toppled Ali Bongo in August 2023 ending 55 years of dynastic rule by the Bongo family, officially takes the presidential reins after leading a 19-month transition government.

Some 20 African heads of state arrived for the inauguration ceremony at a stadium north of the capital Libreville, while supporters decked out in T-shirts and flags bearing Oligui’s likeness packed out the 40,000-capacity venue.

Leaders in attendance include Gambia’s Adama Barrow, Senegal’s Bassirou Diomaye Faye, Djibouti’s Ismail Omar Guelleh and Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo from Equatorial Guinea.

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s president Felix Tshisekedi likewise made his entrance around midday.

Tickets were free to attend the investiture at the Angondje stadium, built to honour friendship between Gabon and China.

It marks the first time the country holds a swearing-in ceremony in front of such a large audience.

– Challenges ahead –
From the morning the roads of the capital Libreville and around the Angondje stadium were clogged with traffic, AFP journalists saw.

On the programme for the ceremony was a series of artistic performances and a military parade, according to state media, which will be followed by a “victory concert” on the Libreville waterfront in the evening.

In the lead-up, hundreds of workers have been painstakingly cleaning and repainting areas around the main roads leading to the stadium.

Authorities and official media have called for people to be public-spirited in view of the influx of foreign guests.

“All citizens of Greater Libreville are asked to extend a warm welcome to these distinguished guests,” the interior ministry said in a statement.

It called on residents near the stadium to “take part in cleaning and beautifying” the area.

Oligui, 50, faces serious challenges in leading the oil-rich country, which needs to revamp crucial infrastructure and diversify its economy but is heavily indebted.

Among the main concerns are an ageing electricity network which suffers frequent power cuts, youth unemployment that hovers at 40 percent, poor or lacking roads and a ballooning public debt, forecast to hit 80 percent of GDP this year.

During the transition, Oligui portrayed himself as a “builder”, launching numerous construction projects, while vowing to “crack down” on corruption to get the country back on track.

Headline

Trump Birthright Citizenship Order Halted In Class-action Suit

Published

2 days ago

July 10, 2025

Editor

A federal judge on Thursday halted President Donald Trump’s order restricting birthright citizenship, as opponents of the policy pursue a new legal avenue following the US Supreme Court’s overturning of a previous block.

The high court’s conservative majority delivered a landmark decision in late June that limits the ability of individual judges to issue nationwide injunctions against presidents’ policies.

Several such judges had in fact blocked Trump’s attempt to end the longstanding rule, guaranteed in the US Constitution, that anyone born on US soil is automatically an American citizen.

However, the Supreme Court left open the possibility that orders could be blocked via broad class-action suits against the government.

Trump’s opponents quickly filed new class-action suits seeking to block again the executive order.

On Thursday, Judge Joseph Laplante of the US District of New Hampshire granted class-action status to any child who would potentially be denied citizenship under Trump’s order. The judge ordered a preliminary halt to it as legal proceedings carry on.

The judge delayed his ruling for seven days to permit the Trump administration to appeal.

Cody Wofsy, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) who argued the case, called the ruling a “huge victory” that “will help protect the citizenship of all children born in the United States, as the Constitution intended.”

Trump’s executive order decrees that children born to parents in the United States illegally or on temporary visas would not automatically become citizens — a radical reinterpretation of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution.

His administration has argued that the 14th Amendment, passed in the wake of the Civil War, addresses the rights of former slaves and not the children of undocumented migrants or temporary US visitors.

The Supreme Court rejected such a narrow definition in a landmark 1898 case.

The current high court, with a 6-3 conservative majority, avoided ruling last month on the constitutionality of Trump’s executive order and only addressed the issue of nationwide injunctions.

It nonetheless permitted the order to go ahead but delayed its ruling from taking effect until late July to allow for new court challenges.

Several lower courts, in issuing their previous injunctions, had ruled that the executive order violated the Constitution.

Headline

PICTORIAL: Two Undocumented Nigerians Arrested For Drug Trafficking In Libya

Published

2 days ago

July 10, 2025

Editor

Libya’s Counter-Terrorism Forces have arrested two undocumented Nigerians over alleged involvement in drug trafficking.

According to a statement shared by Migrant Rescue Watch on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday, the suspects were caught with quantities of hashish and hallucinogenic pills, including Tramadol and Lyrica.

Authorities also recovered a large sum of cash suspected to be proceeds from drug sales during the operation.

Following their arrest, the two Nigerians have been handed over to the appropriate legal authorities for further investigation and possible prosecution.

The statement said, “Counter-Terrorism Forces arrested 2 undocumented #migrants of Nigerian nationality for drug trafficking. The individuals were found in possession of hashish, hallucinogenic pills “Tramadol” & “Lyrica” as well as cash from proceeds.

“Both individuals were referred to competent authorities for legal action.”

Headline

31 Workers Escape Death As Tunnel Collapses In Los Angeles

Published

2 days ago

July 10, 2025

Editor

All 31 workers escaped without injuries from a collapsed industrial tunnel in Los Angeles’ Wilmington area, after scrambling over a tall pile of loose underground soil, city officials said late on Wednesday.

The trapped workers were shuttled back to the tunnel’s entry point, more than 5 miles (8 km) away from the affected area, after they escaped the collapsed section and met several coworkers in the unaffected part of the tunnel, the Los Angeles Fire Department said in a statement.

The tunnel, which had a diameter of 18 ft (5.5 m), trapped 27 individuals, while four workers entered the damaged section to assist with rescue, LA Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva told reporters in a media briefing.

“The workers had to climb through debris. They had to make themselves out through,” before they were assisted out, Villanueva said.

Robert Ferrante, chief engineer and general manager of Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, told the briefing that a section of the already built part of the tunnel experienced squeezing ground conditions and partially collapsed.

“LAFD has just reported that all workers who were trapped in the tunnel in Wilmington are now out and accounted for. I just spoke with many of the workers who were trapped. Thank you to all of our brave first responders who acted immediately,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a post on X.

The collapsed section was a part of the Los Angeles County’s Clearwater Project, where the new 7-mile tunnel is being built to upgrade the region’s sewer system, officials added.

(Reuters)