Headline

Ukrainian Journalist Shot Dead In Suspected Russian Sniper Attack

Published

3 years ago

April 27, 2023

A Ukrainian journalist, Bogdan Bitik was killed on Wednesday as he travelled to the city of Kherson with his Italian colleague.

Bitik, who was interpreting for La Repubblica reporter Corrado Zunino, was shot “most likely by Russian snipers” according to the Italian newspaper report.

Al-Jazeera reported that Zunino was shot in the shoulder and is now receiving medical treatment.

He told La Repubblica from a hospital bed that they had passed three Ukrainian checkpoints when they were suddenly hit.

“I heard a hiss, and I saw Bogdan on the ground,” Zunino said.

“He wasn’t moving. I crawled out of the line of fire. I ran until I passed a civilian car. I was full of blood. I had to be taken to Kherson Hospital.”

He added that he had been trying to call Bitik, who he described as “a great friend”, but got no answer.

“It’s excruciating,” he said.

Both men were wearing press vests when they were attacked near the destroyed Antonivskyi Bridge, according to Zunino.

At least 15 media workers and journalists have been killed in Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Sergiy Tomilenko, head of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, said the attack was a “new war crime of the Russians” as he called for Italian groups and newspapers such as La Repubblica to do more to protect Ukrainian reporters.

“I’m fine. But I’m sad to have lost a friend,” Zunino said in an interview on the Breakfast Club show at Radio Capital.

“I went on five missions with Bogdan. I’ve known him since I first arrived in Ukraine. He had returned to Ukraine from Indonesia, where he has a wife and a son. I have just spoken to his wife. They are all extraordinary, kind and generous people”.

It has not yet been possible to recover Bitik’s body, La Repubblica reported.

Ukrainian forces liberated Kherson in November 2022 after the city had been occupied in the early weeks of the war.

Since then, Russian forces, which had retreated across the Dnipro River, have bombarded the region with regular artillery strikes, missiles, drone attacks and snipers.

In December 2022, two Italian reporters, Claudio Locatelli and Niccolò Celesti, accompanied by their interpreter, came under attack in a Russian strike in the Kherson region; they all survived but Locatelli was injured.

Headline

12 Die, 30 Missing In Peru Landslide

Published

16 hours ago

December 1, 2025

Editor

At least 12 people, including three children, died in a landslide at a river port in central Peru on Monday, and 30 were reported missing, officials said.

The landslide submerged a boat with about 50 passengers on board, and another with none, as they were docked at the port of Iparia in the Amazon jungle region of Ucayali, according to a police report cited by the Andina news agency.

Six people were injured, it added, and a search and rescue operation was underway at the start of the Peruvian rainy season.

Without giving a toll, Peru’s COEN national emergency operations centre said on X that tragedy struck at dawn due to “erosion” of the bank of the Ucayali river.

It said the navy has been called in to help.

AFP

Headline

Nigeria Grants Asylum To Guinea-Bissau Opposition Candidate

Published

16 hours ago

December 1, 2025

Editor

The Nigerian embassy in Guinea-Bissau has granted asylum to Fernando Dias da Costa, the country’s opposition presidential candidate, following alleged threats to his life after last week’s military coup, The Cable Reports.

The coup was announced by military officers on Wednesday, just days after Guinea-Bissau’s presidential election in which both incumbent President Umaro Embaló and his main challenger, da Costa, claimed victory before official results were released.

Nigeria condemned the takeover and urged an immediate return to constitutional order.

In a letter to the President of the Economic Community of West African States Commission, Omar Touray, dated November 30, the Foreign Affairs Minister, Yusuf Tuggar, said President Bola Tinubu had approved asylum and protection for da Costa inside the Nigerian embassy in Bissau.

Tuggar wrote that the decision was made “in response to threats made against da Costa’s life.”

“In this regard, it would be appreciated if you would kindly mandate the ECOWAS Stabilisation Support Mission in Guinea-Bissau to provide him protection and security while in the premises of the Nigerian embassy,” the letter stated.

The foreign affairs minister’s Special Assistant on Media and Communications Strategy, Alkasim Abdulkadir, confirmed the letter’s authenticity to The Cable on Monday.

He said, “The decision of the Federal Government of Nigeria to grant asylum and provide protection to Fernando Dia Da Costa falls squarely within Nigeria’s sovereign responsibility and longstanding commitment to regional peace, stability, and democratic governance.”

He added that Nigeria acted “in the broader interest of de-escalation,” saying the government had exercised its discretion “to prevent further deterioration of tensions and to promote social cohesion in Guinea-Bissau and the wider West African sub-region.”

According to Abdulkadir, the intervention aligns with ECOWAS principles and reflects Nigeria’s role as a stabilising force in West Africa.

Following the coup, ECOWAS held an emergency virtual summit of heads of state and subsequently suspended Guinea-Bissau from the regional bloc until constitutional order is restored.

Headline

Trump To Attend FIFA World Cup Finals Draw On Friday

Published

16 hours ago

December 1, 2025

Editor

The White House on Monday confirmed US President Donald Trump would attend the draw for the FIFA World Cup finals in Washington later this week.

The United States will co-host the 2026 tournament alongside Canada and Mexico.

“On Friday, President Trump will attend the FIFA World Cup final draw at the Kennedy Centre,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

Trump has made the World Cup a centrepiece event of both his second presidency and the 250th anniversary of US independence next year.

But the giant sporting extravaganza has not escaped the political turmoil caused by Trump’s hardline stance on a host of issues.

Trump, a Republican, has raised the possibility of moving games from some US host cities amid a crackdown on what he says is crime and illegal migration in some Democratic-run areas.

AFP