The Pentagon said Wednesday that US forces killed 13 fighters of the al-Shabaab militant group in an airstrike in Somalia.

The strike took place on August 14 near Teedaan in the central-southern part of the country while Shabaab fighters were attacking Somali National Army forces, the Pentagon’s Africa Command said in a statement.

“US forces are authorized to conduct strikes in defense of designated partner forces,” the statement said.

It said that an initial assessment of the strike showed that no civilians were injured or killed.

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Last week US forces killed four Shabaab members in a strike in the same region.

Al-Shabaab, which the United States labels a terrorist group, has led an insurrection against Somalia’s federal government for 15 years.

The group controls swathes of the countryside and frequently strikes civilian and military targets.

In May, President Joe Biden ordered the re-establishment of a US troop presence in Somalia to help local authorities combat Al-Shabaab, reversing a decision by his predecessor Donald Trump to withdraw most US forces.

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13 Al-Shabaab Fighters Dies From US Strike –  Pentagon

Kenya was moving closer Monday to learning the outcome of its closely-fought presidential election after days of anxious waiting.

Deputy President William Ruto was leading with slightly more than 51 percent of the vote against 48 percent for Raila Odinga, based on official results from more than 80 percent of constituencies, according to a tally published by the Daily Nation newspaper.

Both men had on Sunday appealed for calm as the wait for the final results of the August 9 vote dragged on.

Polling day passed off largely peacefully, but memories of vote-rigging and deadly violence in 2007-08 and 2017 still haunt Kenyans.

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The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission is under intense pressure to deliver a clean poll in a country regarded as a beacon of stability in a troubled region.

Results must be issued by Tuesday at the latest, according to Kenya’s constitution.

Ruto, 55, is deputy president but is effectively running as the challenger after outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta threw his support behind his former foe Odinga, the 77-year-old veteran opposition leader making his fifth bid for the top job.

Kenyans voted in six elections, choosing a new president as well as senators, governors, lawmakers, women representatives and some 1,500 county officials.

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Turnout was lower than expected at around 65 percent of Kenya’s 22 million registered voters, with observers blaming disenchantment with the political elite in a country battling a severe cost of living crisis.

The IEBC had faced sharp criticism of its handling of the August 2017 poll, which in a historic first for Africa was annulled by the Supreme Court after Odinga challenged the outcome.

Dozens of people were killed in the chaos that followed the election, with police brutality blamed for the deaths.

Kenyatta went on to win the October rerun after a boycott by Odinga.

people in Kenya anticipating an election result 

Kenya Election: Result Counting Continues in a Tight Race

Forty-two Malian soldiers died in a sophisticated weekend attack by suspected jihadists using drones and artillery, authorities said Wednesday, the latest violent incident to rock the troubled Sahel country.

The toll is one of the bloodiest in Mali’s decade-long insurgency, which has spread from the north of the country to the centre and south and into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.

A document naming the dead was authenticated to AFP by several senior military officials, while the government later confirmed the toll in a statement that said 22 soldiers were injured and 37 “terrorists” were neutralised.

The attack occurred on Sunday in the town of Tessit, in the troubled “three-border” region where the frontiers of the three nations converge.

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On Monday, the army had said 17 soldiers and four civilians had died. Relatives of the victims, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that some of the civilians had been elected officials.

Monday’s statement pointed the finger of blame at the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), saying its members had deployed “drone and artillery support and (used) explosives and an explosives-laden vehicle”.

The last time Mali’s armed forces sustained such losses was in a string of attacks in the same region in late 2019 and early 2020.

Hundreds of soldiers were killed in assaults on nearly a dozen bases, typically carried out by highly mobile fighters on motorbikes.

The raids prompted the Malian, Nigerien and Burkinabe forces to fall back from forwarding bases and hunker down in better-defended locations.

In January 2020, France and its Sahel allies agreed on a push against the ISGS at a summit in Pau, southwestern France.

Several of its leaders were targeted and killed, including its founder, Abu Walid Al-Sahraoui, but local people say the group has continued to recruit and carry out its operations.

Tessit is one of the hotspots in the three-border area.

The ISGS is fighting for control of the strategic, gold-rich area against an Al-Qaeda-linked alliance, the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM).

In March 2021, 33 soldiers were killed in an ISGS-claimed ambush as units were being rotated, and in February this year, around 40 civilians — suspected by the ISGS of being in league with Al-Qaeda — were massacred.

Mobile phone connections to the area have been frequently cut over the last few years and physical access is hard, especially during the mid-year rainy season.

Thousands have fled Tessit to the nearest large town, Gao, which is located some 150 kilometres (90 miles) to the north.

Across the Sahel, the jihadist campaign has claimed thousands of lives and forced more than two million to flee their homes.

Sporadic cross-border attacks have also occurred in Ivory Coast, Togo and Benin to the south, amplifying fears of a jihadist push towards the Gulf of Guinea.

42 Malian Troops Killed In Suspected Islamist Attacks

Gunmen suspected to be bandits have raided and killed three residents of Bali town, the headquarters of Bali Local Government Area of Taraba State.

The attack also led to the abduction of an unspecified number of people through a nearby bush path by the suspected bandits.

Sources within the town disclosed that personnel of the Taraba Marshall, a security outfit of the state government at a checkpoint close to the general hospital, was the first victim before they attacked houses killing two others and abducting many others.

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The source also revealed that the attackers came on motorbikes, shooting into the air to scare residents and security operatives.

The leader of the Tiv cultural group in the Bali local government area, David Zaki who lost two of his tribal men, stressed that those abducted are mostly women.

Zaki said that the attackers stormed the area Sunday night at about 11:00 pm.

Two other victims who were badly injured are receiving treatment in an undisclosed hospital.

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While describing the occurrence as terrible, the Tiv leader wants the government and security operatives to rise up to the occasion and forestall a reoccurrence.

“This is terrible, can you imagine that For more than three hours, the bandits were in total control of the Bali town and no confrontation from security agencies? What a country,” he said.

Police authorities are yet to, however,  confirm the incident.

Bandit Kidnaps Many People In Taraba and Kills Three

Two people were killed and two more were in critical condition on Friday after a lightning strike near the White House the night before, police in the US capital said.

The lightning hit Lafayette Square, a small park across the street from the White House, shortly before 7:00 pm (2300 GMT) Thursday, leaving two men and two women with “critical life-threatening injuries,” according to a statement from Washington’s fire and emergencies department.

All the victims were taken to local hospitals, but on Friday morning the Metropolitan Police confirmed that two of them — 75-year-old Donna Mueller and 76-year-old James Mueller, both from Janesville in Wisconsin — had been pronounced dead.

The other two adults remain in critical condition, police said.

A White House spokeswoman said the Biden administration was “saddened by the tragic loss of life.”

“We are praying for those still fighting for their lives,” added Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in a statement.

US Secret Service and park police rushed to help the four after witnessing the strike, fire and emergency services department spokesman Vito Maggiolo said in a statement posted on social media.

Photos posted by the department on social media showed multiple ambulances and at least one fire truck with flashing lights working at the scene.

Witness David Root told NBC he heard a “horrific boom.”

“I just couldn’t believe it,” he was quoted as saying. “Was surreal. I have never seen anything like this in my entire life.”

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He said he had been sheltering beneath a tree when he saw the lightning strike across the park.

The people “weren’t moving,” he said, so he and others ran over to give help.

The Washington Post said the four were found some 100 feet from the statue of former US president Andrew Jackson which marks the center of the square.

The strike was part of a severe thunderstorm that hit the American capital on Thursday evening.

“Trees are not safe places,” Maggiolo told the Post.

“Anybody that goes to seek shelter under a tree, that’s a very dangerous place to be.”

United states of American presidential office

Lightning Strikes Two People Dead Near White House

The U.S. Mission on Monday announced the arrival of a new Consul General at the U.S. Consulate General in Lagos, Will Stevens.

“Consul General Will Stevens arrived in Lagos on Friday, July 29, following consultations in Washington, D.C. Mr. Stevens succeeds Claire Pierangelo, who led the U.S. Consulate General Lagos from August 2019 to April 2022,” a statement forwarded by consulate spokesperson, Adegbite Adejumobi said.

“As Consul General in Lagos, Mr. Stevens is the senior U.S. Government representative to the Nigerian people throughout the 17 states in southern Nigeria. He is responsible for leading and overseeing U.S. government activities that enhance trade and investment relations and bilateral people-to-people ties across the region.

“‘My family and I look forward to getting to know Nigeria first-hand – exploring the region, experiencing the culture, and most importantly, meeting the people,’ Consul General Stevens said.

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“Consul General Stevens has served more than nineteen (19) years in the U.S. Department of State as a career Foreign Service Officer with overseas experience in South Africa, Russia, Turkmenistan, Israel, and Belarus, as well as experience in Washington at the Foreign Service Institute, the Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs, and the Bureau of African Affairs.

“Before arriving in Nigeria, Mr. Stevens served as the Acting Consul General in Cape Town, South Africa, where he directed the U.S. government’s engagement in South Africa’s three cape provinces. Under his leadership, US-South Africa’s trade and investment expanded by 50 percent over two years, and he coordinated the U.S. government’s response to COVID-19 in the Cape.

“In 2014, he received the Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Public Diplomacy, the State Department’s highest award in public diplomacy, for leading the U.S. Government’s Interagency Task Force on countering Russian propaganda during the Ukraine crisis.

“In the Bureau of African Affairs, Mr. Stevens served as Senior Advisor on countering violent extremism and, as the Bureau’s Spokesperson. He directed the public affairs planning and messaging for the 2014 U.S.-Africa Heads of State Summit that brought together 50 African leaders in Washington for the first time.

“Mr. Stevens was the Director of the Foreign Service Institute’s Public Diplomacy (PD) Training Division from 2017-2019, where he coordinated the training of the State Department’s entire public affairs and public diplomacy corps.

“His leadership and the team were recognized in the Public Diplomacy Council’s annual “Ten Best” for the “Best Use of Social Media by an Embassy while serving as the Spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Moscow between 2014 and 2016.

“He has also served as Chief of Staff at the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, chief of public affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Turkmenistan, and in the press and cultural affairs offices at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv.”

U.S. Mission Welcomes New Consul General in Lagos

At least 16 people were killed in two-midweek attacks in northeastern Mali by suspected jihadists on encampments of nomadic tribesmen, local sources told AFP on Sunday.

“The killings took place in the evening between Wednesday and Thursday with the same modus operandi: assailants on motorbikes who came into the camp, shot at people indiscriminately from close range, then take away their livestock,” said a source close to the authorities in Menaka, the region near the Niger border where the attacks happened.

The first attack targeted a nomadic camp about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the region’s capital, also called Menaka. Twelve people were killed

In the other attack “armed men” targeted another camp at Inekar Tadriante, killing five, the source added.

Leaders of the Tuareg nomadic community posted on social networks in recent days of “massacres of civilians” by the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (EIGS), affiliated to the Islamic State group, which operated in the border regions between Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso.

They put the overall death toll from the two attacks at 16.

The region has become increasingly violent and unstable since Tuareg separatist rebels rose up against the government in 2012.

Jihadist fighters took advantage of their rebellion to launch their own offensive, threatening the capital Bamako in the south until a French-led force pushed them back in 2013.

The Tuareg separatists and the government agreed to a peace accord in 2015, but it has yet to be applied.

So now Mali’s weak, national government faces both separatist and jihadist insurgencies in the north of the country — a largely desert region that is all but devoid of state infrastructure.

A recent report by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the so-called three-border region with Niger and Burkina Faso had seen a “significant deterioration” in security.

At Least 16 Killed In Attacks In Northern Mali

A serving senator of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has backed the move by his opposition colleagues to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari, the leader of his party, over the security challenges bedeviling the nation.

Senator Elisha Abbo, who represents Adamawa North senatorial district in the upper chamber of the National Assembly, made his position known on Friday in an exclusive interview with Channels Television

He spoke on the sideline of the APC Northern Christian Leaders summit held in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The lawmaker, who said he was in full support of the impeachment move against the President, stated that the Nigerian leader has failed in his fundamental responsibility to secure the lives and property of the people.

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Recently, there are reports of renewed attacks by terrorists and other armed non-state actors at various locations in the country, with security operatives being killed in some cases.

On Wednesday, senators from opposition parties staged a walkout following a call to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari.

The Minority Leader of the Senate, Senator Philip Aduda, had raised a point of order asking the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, to discuss the country’s security situation and President Buhari’s impeachment.

But Senator Lawan, who presided over the plenary, declined the request of the minority leader, saying the point of order raised fell flat on its face.

Angered by the action of the Senate President, all the lawmakers elected on the platforms of all political parties other than the All Progressives Congress (APC) walked out of the legislative chamber while the plenary was ongoing.

They later handed a six-week ultimatum to President Buhari to tackle the security challenges bedevilling the country, saying they would commence impeachment proceedings against him should he fail to address the issue within the period.

While the Presidency said the lawmakers’ action was a mere threat with no effect, the Minority Caucus of the House of Representatives also issued a six-week ultimatum to the President to fix the nation’s security challenges.

All progressive people's congress party members

APC Senator Backs Call To Impeach Buhari Over Insecurity

The All Progressives Congress has selected Senator Abdullahi Gobir, as its new Senate Leader.

This decision by the ruling party was contained in a letter written by the National Chairman of the APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu and read by Senate President Ahmad Lawan during the plenary session on Wednesday.

Senator Gobir replaces Senator Yahaya Abdullahi following his resignation as Senate Leader wing to the latter’s defection from the APC to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party.

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Meanwhile, senators from opposition parties staged a walkout following a call to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari.

This followed a mild drama that played out during the plenary in the upper chamber of the National Assembly in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

Senate Minority Leader, Senator Phillip Aduda, had raised a point of order asking the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, to discuss the country’s security situation and President Buhari’s impeachment.

The lawmakers also issued a six-week ultimatum to President Muhammadu Buhari to tackle the security challenges bedevilling the country.

They threatened to commence the impeachment proceedings against the President should he fail to address the insecurity within the period the lawmakers gave.

All Progressive Congress Picks Gobir As New Senate Leader

Thirty people were killed when a bus plunged into a river in central Kenya at a notorious accident blackspot, a local official said Monday.

The accident occurred late Sunday when the bus was travelling from the town of Meru to the coastal city of Mombasa.

The bus plunged off a bridge about 40 meters (about 130 feet) into the Nithi River valley below.

Pictures published in the local media showed the bus ripped apart after rolling down the steep slope, with reports saying wreckage and bodies were strewn in the water and on the river bank.

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Twenty people died on the spot on Sunday, while four died in hospital and another six bodies were recovered on Monday, county commissioner Norbert Komora told reporters.

“The search is still on and we are trying to retrieve the wreckage,” he said.

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“Investigations are still going on to establish the cause of the accident that occurred at the Nithi blackspot.”

The number of people killed on Kenya’s roads has increased in recent years.

In the first half of 2022, 1,912 people were killed, up nine per cent from 1,754 in the same period last year, according to figures from the National Transport and Safety Authority.

30 People Dead As Kenya Bus Plunges Into River

The funeral of Ivana Trump, the ex-wife of Donald Trump, has been held in New York City, bringing the family together for a rare public gathering.

Ms Trump, 73, died last week after reportedly falling down the stairs of her Manhattan apartment.

Among those in attendance were Donald and Ivana's three children, Ivanka, Eric and Donald Trump Jr, who all reportedly gave eulogies.

The pair were married for 15 years between 1977 and 1992.

Originally from what was then Czechoslovakia, Ivana Trump was a notable socialite who became the subject of intense public interest alongside Donald Trump during the 1980s and 1990s. After the pair separated, she went on to launch a line of beauty products, jewelry and clothing.

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At the funeral on Wednesday, Ivana and Donald's three children were seen standing together alongside their spouses and families as the hearse carrying the coffin arrived to be carried into St Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church.

The former president - who reportedly did not speak at the service - arrived separately alongside security personnel.

Before the ceremony, he wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social: "A very sad day, but at the same time a celebration of a wonderful and beautiful life."

According to the New York Post, an emotional Ivanka Trump, 40, told mourners during the service: "Growing up, my mother didn't tell me a woman could do anything she wanted to - she showed me."

She added: "My mother once told me there was nothing she couldn't do in heels."

Donald Jr called his mother "fearless and independent".

Others seen at the funeral included the real estate developer Charles Kushner - Jared Kushner's father - Malaysian designer Zang Toi, TV host Jeanine Pirro and George Wayne, a former Vanity Fair journalist known for his interviews with celebrities.

No cameras were allowed inside the church during the service.

Ivana Trump's funeral held in New York City

Argentina international forward Paulo Dybala has joined Italian side AS Roma on a free transfer following his departure from Juventus, the Europa Conference League champions said on Wednesday.

Dybala, who was linked with a transfer to Serie A side Inter Milan after his deal with Juventus expired, has signed a three-year contract with Roma.

The deal is worth 6 million euros ($6.14 million), Italian news agency ANSA said.

“The days that have led up to me signing this contract have been filled with so many emotions,” Dybala said in a statement.

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“I am joining a team that is on the up, a club that continues to put in place strong foundations for the future, and a coach, Jose Mourinho, that it will be a privilege to work with.”

The 28-year-old won five league titles and four Coppa Italia trophies with Juventus after joining them from Palermo in 2015, scoring 115 goals in 293 appearances across all competitions.

However, his last two seasons with the Turin-based club were hampered by a string of injuries.

Dybala, who has earned 34 caps for Argentina since his senior debut in 2015, will become Roma’s fourth signing of the transfer window after the arrivals of midfielder Nemanja Matic, goalkeeper Mile Svilar and defender Zeki Celik.

Roma finished sixth in Serie A last season and won the Europa Conference League under Mourinho.

They kick off their league campaign with a trip to Salernitana on August 14.

Dybala Signs Three-Year Deal With Mourinho’s Roma

Nigerian newspapers,on one page.