Nigeria kills 15 Islamist fighters in air strike
Abuja — Nigeria’s air force killed more than 15 Islamist militia fighters in an air strike on their hideout about the Sambisa forest in the northeastern Borno state, a spokesperson said on Thursday.
Nigeria has faced a 16-year Islamist insurgency in the northeast led by Boko Haram and its offshoot ISWAP, causing mass casualties, displacement and a deepening humanitarian crisis.
Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame said the operation, carried out on September 3, targeted fighters and commanders linked to recent attacks. The strike followed intelligence and surveillance that confirmed militant activity in the area, he said. Reuters
Sweden aims to temporarily halve VAT on food
Stockholm — The Swedish government plans to temporarily halve VAT tax on food to 6% in its election-year budget bill to help support households and the wider economy, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Thursday.
Despite a series of interest rate cuts, growth has stalled this year due to uncertainty over the effects of US President Donald Trump’s erratic tariffs. And the economy is still feeling the after effects of a period of high inflation that followed the Covid-19 pandemic.
Kristersson said during a press conference that this had “created a ... drawn out downturn in the economy which, even if it is not as dramatic as we had during the financial crisis of 2008-09, is in fact worse overall”.
“So the budget will focus very clearly on households’ purchasing power, households’ finances ... and on hard working people,” he said.
The Right-wing coalition government said last week its 2026 budget bill will include 80 billion Swedish krona ($8.41bn) of unfinanced measures — the most expansive budget since the pandemic. Reuters
Jamaica prime minister secures third term
Kingston — Jamaica's ruling Labor Party declared victory in general elections, ushering in a third consecutive term for Prime Minister Andrew Holness who ran on promises of tax cuts.
Preliminary figures gave 34 seats to his Jamaica Labor Party and 29 to the rival People's National Party, with a voter turnout of 39.5%, the Electoral Commission of Jamaica said on X.
“This was not an easy victory. Make no mistake about it, this was a fight,” Holness said in a televised speech late on Wednesday after People’s National Party leader Mark Golding conceded defeat.
Holness campaigned on his government’s economic record, saying it had brought prosperity to the Caribbean country with a low unemployment rate of 3.3% and reductions in poverty and crime.
He promised to cut the income tax rate from 25% to 15% and to double the national minimum wage from J$16,000 ($100) to J$32,000 per week on a phased basis over the next few years. Reuters
Tehran downgrades diplomatic ties with Australia
Dubai — Iran has downgraded diplomatic ties with Australia, its foreign ministry said on Thursday, a week after Australia expelled the Iranian ambassador over accusations that Tehran directed two antisemitic arson attacks in the cities of Sydney and Melbourne.
“According to diplomatic law and in response to Australia's action, the Islamic Republic has also reciprocally reduced the level of Australia's diplomatic presence in Iran,” foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said, adding that Canberra’s ambassador had left Iran.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said last week that operations at Australia’s embassy in Tehran were suspended and all Australian diplomats were safe in a third country.
Canberra’s decision to expel the Iranian ambassador, its first such move since World War 2, was the latest example of a Western government accusing Iran of carrying out hostile covert activities on foreign soil. Reuters
SEC outlines plan to revamp crypto regulations
New York — The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday unveiled its rule making agenda for the upcoming months, which could see broad proposals to revamp cryptocurrency regulations and reduce rules that Wall Street has decried as being overly burdensome.
The SEC in its rule making agenda formally outlined several of its initiatives to overhaul cryptocurrency policies, which Atkins had previewed in July.
Those include proposing rules about the offer and sale of digital assets, which the SEC said could potentially include certain exemptions and safe harbours.
The SEC also said it would consider amending its rules to allow for crypto be traded on national securities exchanges and alternative trading systems.
If enacted, those policies would represent a major win for the digital asset industry, which has long pushed for tailored rules that would enable crypto to become more enmeshed with traditional finance. Reuters
New outbreak of Ebola virus kills 15 in DRC
Kinshasa — Democratic Republic of Congo declared a new outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus on Thursday, three years after its last one, saying there were now 28 suspected cases and 15 deaths.
The health ministry said samples tested on Wednesday had confirmed the presence of the Zaire strain of the virus. It said the initial signal for the outbreak came when a pregnant woman was hospitalised in Kasai province on August 20 with symptoms including high fever and vomiting. It did not say whether the woman had died. The World Health Organisation said case numbers were likely to increase as transmission was ongoing.. Reuters
Trump administration sued over DC deployment
Washington — Washington DC sued US President Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday over his deployment of National Guard troops in the capital city, a move likely to heighten tensions between the Republican president and the city’s Democratic leaders.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court by DC attorney-general Brian Schwalb, seeks a court order blocking the deployment of troops on the grounds it is unconstitutional and violates multiple federal laws.
The litigation could also lead to another judicial rebuke of Trump’s attempt to broaden the role of the military on US soil, after a ruling this week that his use of troops to fight crime in California was unlawful.
“Armed soldiers should not be policing American citizens on American soil,” Schwalb said in an X post. Reuters
Third quake strikes Afghanistan as death toll rises
Kabul — A magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck southeastern Afghanistan on Thursday, the German Research Centre for Geosciences said, the third tremor in the same region since Sunday, when one of the country’s deadliest quakes in years killed more than 2,200 people.
The tremor, at a depth of 10km, followed the earlier quakes that flattened villages in Kunar and Nangarhar provinces, left tens of thousands homeless, and injured more than 3,600 people. Reuters
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.