News

Israel strikes heart of Beirut, killing at least six

Published

2 years ago

October 3, 2024

Smoke rises after a strike amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Beirut’s southern suburbs and its surroundings, as seen from Hadath, Lebanon October 3, 2024. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir © Thomson Reuters

By Timour Azhari and Ari Rabinovitch

BEIRUT/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israel bombed Beirut early on Thursday, killing at least six people, after its forces suffered their deadliest day on the Lebanese front in a year of clashes with Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Israel said it had conducted a precise air strike on the Lebanese capital. Reuters witnesses reported hearing a massive blast, and a security source said it targeted a building in the district of Bachoura near parliament, the closest an Israeli strike has come to the central downtown district of Beirut.

At least six people were killed and seven wounded, Lebanese health officials said. A photo circulating on Lebanese WhatsApp groups, which Reuters could not immediately verify, showed a heavily damaged building with its first floor on fire.

“Another sleepless night in Beirut. Counting the blasts shaking the city. No warning sirens. Not knowing what’s next. Only that uncertainty lies ahead. Anxiety and fear are omnipresent,” U.N. special coordinator in Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, said on X on Thursday.Three missiles also hit the southern suburb of Dahiyeh, where Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed last week, and loud blasts were heard, Lebanese security officials said.

The elimination of Nasrallah dealt a major blow to the movement and removed Iran’s most powerful proxy in the Middle East.

A man looks at a damaged building at the site of an Israeli strike on central Beirut’s Bachoura neighbourhood, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Beirut, Lebanon October 3, 2024. REUTERS/Emilie Madi
© Thomson Reuters

Hezbollah and Iran’s other regional allies, Yemen’s Houthis and armed groups in Iraq, have launched attacks in the region in support of Hamas in its war with Israel in Gaza.

The Houthis, who have been carrying out attacks in shipping lanes in and around the Red Sea that have disrupted international trade, said on Thursday they attacked Israel’s commercial capital Tel Aviv with drones.

“The operation achieved its goals successfully by the arrival of the drones without being detected or shot down by the enemy,” the group’s military spokesperson Yahya Saree said.

Israel said it intercepted a suspicious aerial target in the area of central Israel early on Thursday.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) urged residents of Lebanese villages who have evacuated their homes not to return until further notice. “IDF raids are continuing,” spokesperson Avichay Adraee said on X on Thursday.

Fire and smoke rise over Beirut’s southern suburbs after a strike, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Sin El Fil, Lebanon, October 3, 2024. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh © Thomson Reuters

A day after Iran fired more than 180 missiles into Israel, Israel said on Wednesday eight soldiers were killed in ground combat in south Lebanon as its forces thrust into its northern neighbour.

‘IRAN’S AXIS OF EVIL’

The Israeli military said regular infantry and armoured units joined ground operations in Lebanon on Wednesday as Iran’s missile attack and Israel’s promise of retaliation fanned concern of a wider conflict in the oil-producing Middle East.

Hezbollah said its fighters engaged Israeli forces inside Lebanon. The movement reported ground clashes for the first time since Israeli forces pushed over the border on Monday. Hezbollah said it had destroyed three Israeli Merkava tanks with rockets near the border town of Maroun El Ras.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a condolence video, said: “We are at the height of a difficult war against Iran’s Axis of Evil, which wants to destroy us.

“This will not happen because we will stand together and with God’s help, we will win together.”

Iran said on Wednesday its missile volley – its biggest ever assault on Israel – was over, barring further provocation, but Israel and the United States promised to hit back hard.

However, U.S. President Joe Biden said he would not support any Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear sites in response to its ballistic missile attack and urged Israel to act “proportionally” against its regional arch-foe.

Biden joined a call with other leaders of the Group of Seven major powers to coordinate a response, including new sanctions against Tehran, the White House said.

G7 leaders voiced “strong concern” over the Middle East crisis but said a diplomatic solution was still viable and a region-wide conflict was in no one’s interest, a statement said.

China urged the United Nations Security Council to take “urgent actions” to de-escalate the situation in the Middle East.

Western nations have drafted contingency plans to evacuate citizens from Lebanon after Tuesday’s dramatic escalation, but none have launched a large-scale military evacuation yet, though some are chartering aircraft as Beirut airport stays open.

1.2 MILLION LEBANESE DISPLACED

Israel’s addition of infantry and armoured troops from the 36th Division, including the Golani Brigade, the 188th Armoured Brigade and 6th Infantry Brigade, suggested that the operation might expand beyond limited commando raids.

People inspect damage at the site of an Israeli strike on central Beirut’s Bachoura neighbourhood, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Beirut, Lebanon October 3, 2024. REUTERS/Emilie Madi
© Thomson Reuters

The military has said its incursion is largely aimed at destroying tunnels and other infrastructure on the border and there were no plans for a wider operation targeting Beirut to the north or major cities in the south.

A person stands at the site of an Israeli strike on central Beirut’s Bachoura neighbourhood, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Beirut, Lebanon October 3, 2024. REUTERS/Emilie Madi
© Thomson Reuters

Nevertheless, it issued new evacuation orders for about two dozen towns along the southern border, telling residents to head north of the Awali River, which flows east to west some 60 km (40 miles) north of the Israeli frontier.

More than 1,900 people have been killed and over 9,000 wounded in Lebanon in almost a year of cross-border fighting, with most of the deaths occurring in the past two weeks, according to Lebanese government statistics.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said about 1.2 million Lebanese had been displaced by Israeli attacks.

(Reporting by James Mackenzie and Steven Scheer in Jerusalem; Maya Gebeily and Timour Azhari in Beirut; Parisa Hafezi in Istanbul; Phil Stewart, Jeff Mason and Idrees Ali in Washington; Michelle Nichols in New York; Adam Makary, Jaidaa Taha and Enas Alashray in Cairo; and Tala Ramadan, Jana Choukeir and Jack Kim in Seoul and Matthias Williams in Berlin, Elwely Elwelly and Clauda Tanios in Dubai and Angelo Amante and Giuseppe Fonte in Rome and Parisa Hafezi in Dubai; Writing by Cynthia Osterman and Michael Perry and Michael Georgy; Editing by Deepa Babington, William Mallard and Gareth Jones)

Business

Fuel may hit N2000/litre. Subsidize crude feedstock now – TUC tells FG

Published

1 month ago

April 10, 2026

Ekwutos Blog

The Trade Union of Nigeria, TUC, has raised the alarm that the price of Premium Motor Spirit aka Petrol may climb to about N2,000 per litre if urgent measures are not taken to cushion the impact of rising global crude prices and the depreciating naira.

Speaking to newsmen on Thursday, April 9, the president of the TUC, Festus Osifo, called on the Federal Government to immediately deploy 60 percent of excess crude oil revenue above the 2026 budget benchmark to subsidise crude feedstock supplies to the Dangote Refinery and other modular refineries, a move it says will slash pump prices of petrol, diesel, and jet fuel within two weeks

“Today, comrades, we are seeing that the cost of petrol is edging towards N2,000 per litre depending on the part of the country that you are. Nigerian workers are already passing through excruciating pain as we speak.

The same way it is affecting transportation, it is also affecting manufacturing. The cost of diesel has also gone northward, meaning that the cost of production has increased. When production costs rise, the final price of goods on the shelves will also skyrocket.

If this continues unchecked, the inflation that we are currently celebrating as going downwards will reverse and start moving up again,” he stated.

Osifo outlined the proposal as an urgent intervention to cushion Nigerian workers from excruciating pain caused by petrol prices edging towards ₦2,000 per litre in some parts of the country

News

Cameroon’s President, Paul Biya Set To Get A Vice President For The First Time In His 43-Year Rule

Published

2 months ago

April 5, 2026

Ekwutos Blog

Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, is set to get a vice president for the first time in his four-decade rule, following controversial constitutional changes backed by the parliament.

In a ‌joint session of the ruling party-dominated National Assembly and Senate, lawmakers voted 200 to 18 in favour, with four abstentions, to pass the bill.

The bill stipulates that the vice president will automatically assume the presidency if President Paul Biya dies, resigns, or becomes incapacitated.

Biya, 93, has led the Central African country since 1982 and is the world’s oldest serving head of state. Public discussion about his health is banned.

According to the legislation, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, the vice president will be appointed and dismissed by the president, serving for the remainder of the president’s seven-year term.

However, the interim leader would be prohibited from initiating constitutional changes or running in a subsequent election.

Prior to the amendment, the constitution designated the leader of the Senate to briefly take over in case the sitting president d!es or is incapacitated. An election would then be held.

The Social Democratic Front (SDF) party, which has six representatives in parliament, boycotted the vote. It had pushed for a revision in favour of the vice-president being jointly elected with the president, rather than appointed.

The party also sought a constitutional provision that reflects the linguistic split between English and French-speaking regions. The SDF wanted the nation’s top two posts to be shared between Cameroon’s two communities, which was the position before 1972.

“This constitutional reform could have been a moment of political courage, but it is nothing less than a missed historic opportunity,” SDF chairman Joshua Osih said.

News

Nigerians Expect Everything Free, Roads And Light, But Don’t Want To Pay Tax — Minister Wike

Published

2 months ago

April 3, 2026

Ekwutos Blog

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has highlighted the ongoing challenges of tax collection, pointing out the disparity between citizens’ expectations and the reality of government revenue.

Speaking with TVC NEWS live, he stressed that while Nigerians expect quality infrastructure and services, there is widespread reluctance to contribute through taxes.

On the difficulty of generating revenue, Wike said: “To collect tax, you know it’s not an easy thing. I don’t know how many of you here like to pay tax. Nigerians want everything for free. They want road, they want light. It is not easy.”

He further stated; “When I came to Abuja we were about 8, 9 billion. The money we get from the federal government is 1% of the allocation of federal government. So if federal government gets 1 trillion for example, they’ll give us one percent which is ten billion naira and that cannot carry the society. Our salary in a month is not less than 12–13 billion, so we must augment. How do we augment?”

Addressing public criticism, he added: “There’s no ab¥se that any politician has received than me. I think after the president, I’m the highest ab¥sed. There’s nothing we do that we won’t get ab¥sed. Well, what is important to me is that I want to be concentrated to do the job.”

On oversight and accountability, Wike explained how closely he monitors the finances: “The money we have gotten from tax challenge me, minister FCT, what are you doing? I’ll show you as I sit here.”