Ridoola's blog

Terry Gobanga: 'I was gang-raped on my wedding Terry GobangaImage copyright Josse Josse When Terry Gobanga - then Terry Apudo - didn't show up to her wedding, nobody could have guessed that she had been abducted, raped and left for dead by the roadside. It was the first of two tragedies to hit the young Nairobi pastor in quick succession. But she is a survivor. It was going to be a very big wedding. I was a pastor, so all our church members were coming, as well as all our relatives. My fiance, Harry, and I were very excited - we were getting married in All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi and I had rented a beautiful dress. But the night before the wedding I realised that I had some of Harry's clothes, including his cravat. He couldn't show up without a tie, so a friend who had stayed the night offered to take it to him first thing in the morning. We got up at dawn and I walked her to the bus station. As I was making my way back home, I walked past a guy si...

China condemns US sanctions over 'North Korea funding' North Korean leader Kim Jong-un watches the test of a new-type anti-aircraft guided weapon system organised by the Academy of National Defence Science in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News The US says China can do the most to impose economic pain on Kim Jong-un's regime China has reacted angrily to a US decision to impose sanctions on a Chinese bank accused of laundering North Korean money. A foreign ministry spokesman urged the US to "stop wrongful actions" to avoid harming co- operation. The US announced the move, as well as sanctions on a Chinese shipping company and two Chinese nationals, on Thursday. It said the blacklisting was aimed at cutting funds to North Korea's weapons programmes. We will follow the money and cut off the money," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told a news conference. But he said the move was not a response to Chinese ina...

Lionel Messi's 'wedding of the century' begins in Argentina Lionel Messi joined on the pitch by Antonela Roccuzzo and their two sons Argentine football star Lionel Messi's "wedding of the century" is taking place in his hometown of Rosario. Messi, 30, is marrying his childhood sweetheart Antonela Roccuzzo, 29, in a civil ceremony at a luxury hotel. Football stars and celebrities are among 260 guests attending the ceremony. Hundreds of police have been deployed ahead of the event. Messi, the Argentina and Barcelona star, first met Antonela Roccuzzo before he moved to Spain aged just 13. Among the guests at Friday's wedding are Messi's Barcelona teammates Luis Suárez, Neymar, Gerard Piqué and his wife, Colombia's pop star Shakira. A number of guests flew into Rosario on private jets. Argentina's Clarín newspaper has variously called the wedding "the wedding of the year" and "the wedding of the century...

New York hospital: Ex-employee opens fire in Bronx A gunman has opened fire with an assault rifle inside a hospital in the Bronx borough of New York, killing one doctor and injuring six other people, five of them seriously. The gunman, a former doctor at the hospital, killed himself in the attack. The shooting began at about 14:55 local time (18:55 GMT) at the 1,000-bed Bronx-Lebanon Hospital. Mayor Bill de Blasio said the shooting was not an act of terrorism, but rather workplace-related. He said the attack had been a "horrific situation in the middle of a place that people associate with care and comfort". Several of the injured are "fighting for their lives," he added. Police said the suspect was wearing a white medical coat when found. An assault rifle was also discovered nearby, which a local politician separately said appeared to be a military-grade M16 rifle. Police Commissioner James O'Neill said the attack began on t...

Google fined record £2bn over shopping service Google has been ordered to pay a record fine of £2.1bn (€2.42bn) for abusing its dominance as a search engine to boost its shopping comparison service. The European competition watchdog said the company had breached anti-trust rules. It said Google's search engine had systematically given prominence to its own comparison shopping service over others, so that it was displayed at or near the top of search results. The company has been ordered to end the conduct at the centre of the European Commission probe or face penalty payments of up to 5% of the average daily turnover of parent company Alphabet. Google said it "respectfully" disagreed with the ruling and would review the decision in detail as it considers an appeal. Its shares were 1% lower in early US deals. Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said Google's innovative products and services had been "a good thing" ...

Royal Navy's largest ever warship, HMS Queen Elizabeth, sets sail HMS Queen Elizabeth took three hours to get out into the Firth of Forth  By Alistair Bunkall, Defence Correspondent The largest warship ever built in the UK eased into the Firth of Forth as it set out on two years of sea trials HMS Queen Elizabeth, the Royal Navy's new aircraft carrier, left her dock in Scotland in a delicate operation that took around three hours. She is named after Elizabeth the first and is the second ship to carry the name - the first was a First World War battleship. More than 700 crew are onboard, from seamen to aircraft engineers, dentists to force protection. The oldest crew member is 58 and the youngest 17, although the average age is in the early twenties. In recent weeks they have been practising drills and familiarising themselves with their new ship. Sailing her out of the basin she was built in needed precise calculations and nerves of steel. At high tide, she was guid...

Camber Sands deaths: Request for lifeguards turned down Two brothers died with three of their friends at Camber last year The RNLI turned down a request to provide lifeguards at Camber Sands 16 days before five friends drowned on the beach, an inquest has been told. The request from Rother District Council was rejected by the lifeboat charity because of a lack of resources. Darren Lewis, the RNLI's senior lifeguard manager, told the hearing in Hastings: "We just physically did not have the manpower." He said following the deaths the RNLI offered to put lifeguards on the beach. The charity offered to provide lifeguard cover for the next bank holiday and then for the rest of the season, after being able to reallocate resources, Mr Lewis said. Two brothers, Ken, 18, and Kobi Saththiyanathan, 22, died at the Sussex beach in August along with three of their friends. Earlier a beach-goer told the inquest into their deaths he felt "unnerved" by the sea...

Dragon Tattoo actor Michael Nyqvist dies aged 56 Swedish actor Michael Nyqvist will "leave a huge void behind him" Actor Michael Nyqvist, who starred in the film adaptation of Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, has died aged 56, his family has announced. Nyqvist played journalist Mikael Blomkvist in that film and its sequels, which formed the Millennium trilogy. The Swedish actor died on Tuesday after a year-long battle with lung cancer, according to a family statement. Nyqvist's love of the arts was "felt by all who had the pleasure of working with him", the family added. Michael's joy and passion were infectious to those who knew and loved him," his family said. "His charm and charisma were undeniable." They said Nyqvist had left a "huge void behind him", local media report. His death was announced "with deep sadness" by a family representative who said that "one of Sweden's mo...

Colombia's Farc has completed disarmament, UN says. United Nations Mission in Colombia shows one of its members carrying FARC weapons during an inspection at La Elvira, Colombia, 13 June 2017. The registration by UN monitors of Farc weapons ran over schedule drawing concerns the handover would never be completed. Farc rebels in Colombia have handed over all of their personal weapons, completing the transfer of arms a day ahead of a revised schedule, United Nations monitors in Colombia say. A total of 7,132 weapons have been registered and boxed away, the UN says. The monitors said they had also found and emptied 77 out of the Farc's 900 arms caches hidden around the countryside. The arms handover is a key condition in last year's peace agreement. The deal seeks to end more than five decades of conflict and negotiations between Colombia's largest left-wing rebel group and the government. But US monitors have warned that the task of locating and emptyin...

Brazil's Michel Temer charged with corruption Brazilian President Michel Temer has been charged with accepting bribes by the country's chief prosecutor. He is accused of receiving money from the boss of a giant meatpacking firm implicated in a corruption scandal. Mr Temer denies any wrongdoing. The charges have been delivered to a Supreme Court judge who must now decide if the case can be sent to the lower house of parliament. The lower house would then vote on whether President Temer can be tried. Mr Temer has vowed to prove his innocence. He has faced a slew of accusations since taking office last year but these are the first formal charges against him. The move follows the release of an audio recording in which Mr Temer appears to be discussing bribes in conversation with Joesley Batista, the chairman of the meatpacking company JBS. President Temer is expected to face further charges in the coming weeks, correspondents say. He is deeply...

How lack of sleep affects the brain Scientists in Canada have launched what is set to become the world's largest study of the effects of lack of sleep on the brain. A team, at Western University, Ontario, want people from all over the world to sign up online to do cognitive tests. The specially devised computer games test skills such as reasoning, language comprehension and decision-making. I joined a group of volunteers trying out the tests and had my brain scanned while doing them. Trailblazing Prof Adrian Owen, a British neuroscientist based at the Brain and Mind Institute in London, Ontario, is leading the study. He said: "We all know what it feels like to not get enough sleep but we know very little about the effects on the brain; we want to see how it affects cognition, memory and your ability to concentrate." The team will collate the cognitive scores and see the variations depending on how much sleep people have had. Everyone's sleep require...

Shark sparks panic in Majorca after washing ashore on beach near Palma Footage has emerged of the moment a blue shark washed ashore as British holidaymakers soaked up the sun on a beach in Majorca. The shark, believed to be eight feet long, sent swimmers racing for shore after it appeared in shallow waters on Cala Major beach, between Magaluf and Palma. Videos show the shark thrashing in the sand as it struggles to return to open water. Lifeguards raised red flags to clear holidaymakers out of the sea, before the Guardia Civil conducted a search of the area. The beach in Illetas, near Magaluf, was closed after the shark washed ashore A hook was found inside the shark's mouth The shark managed to swim back out, but was later spotted in shallow water on a beach along the coast in Can Pastilla. Crowds watched as it was pulled from the water by lifeguards, before being put down by wildlife experts from nearby Palma Aquarium. It was said to have approached the packed ...

Trump's travel ban for six countries gets partial go-ahead The ban affects travellers from six majority-Muslim countries US President Donald Trump's travel ban on six Muslim-majority countries has been partially reinstated by the Supreme Court. A watered-down version of the controversial measure will come into effect until the court meets to agree a permanent stance in autumn. A "bona fide" or "familial" relationship with a US citizen is now required for travellers and refugees from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen wanting to enter the country in the next 90 days. Iraqi nationals were originally included too, but dropped from the executive order's restrictions in March to resolve legal problems. The White House said the ban would come into force within 72 hours of the ruling. It argued the measure was needed to allow an internal review of the screening procedure for travellers from the blacklisted countries. President attacks ...

Pakistan oil tanker inferno kills 153 as vehicle explodes while people collect fuel. More than 120 people killed after an oil tanker overturns and bursts into flames near the city of Bahawalpur in Pakistan Police had tried to seal off the area as people rushed to collect fuel from the tanker after it overturned  An overturned oil tanker has burst into flames in Pakistan, killing at least 153 people who had rushed to the scene - many to collect leaking fuel, an official said. Crowds had flocked to the highway accident with jerry cans, buckets and other containers to get fuel from the tanker after it crashed - but it exploded about 10 minutes later, police said. Residents of a nearby village had been told about the leaking fuel over a loudspeaker at a local mosque, senior local government official Rana Mohammad Saleem Afzal told state television. Police had tried to seal off the area but became overwhelmed by the scores of people trying to reach the vehicle. The same mosq...

Qatar demands difficult to meet, says US The land borders have been closed for days now Some demands set by four Arab states on Qatar in return for lifting sanctions will be "difficult to meet", US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says. However, Mr Tillerson said the proposals provided a basis for dialogue leading to a solution of the crisis. On Saturday, Qatar's foreign minister rejected the list of 13 conditions imposed by Saudi Arabia and its allies, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain. They accuse Qatar of backing terrorism - a charge it denies. Qatar has been under unprecedented diplomatic and economic sanctions for more than two weeks, with Iran and Turkey increasingly supplying it with food and other goods. The four countries also want Qatar to reduce its ties with Iran and close a Turkish military base, setting a deadline on Friday of 10 days. Among other things, the fellow Gulf states have demanded the closure of Al Jazeera TV, which is funded by the Qata...

Newcastle Eid celebration: Six hurt as car hits crowd. It happened outside Westgate Sports Centre where an event was taking place to celebrate the end of Ramadan. Two children are in intensive care and one adult is seriously injured. Northumbria Police said the incident was not believed to be terrorism-related. A 42-year-old woman was arrested and is in custody. The remaining injured are believed to have serious but non-life threatening injuries, officers said. The woman who was arrested had been celebrating Eid with her family and hundreds of others. No-one else was being sought. Extra patrols were in the area to reassure communities, police said. One eyewitness said: "From what I understand, [a woman who had been at prayer] was about to leave in her car and I believe she lost control. I ran up straight away because everyone was moving in on all the injured, trying to put water in their mouths. The parents of the kids were there. I had to sort of try and calm ...

Several killed as Colombia boat sinks The sinking was captured on video from the shore At least three people died when a passenger boat sank on a reservoir in north-western Colombia, police say. Dozens of people are missing after the four-deck vessel went down on the Penol reservoir near the tourist town of Guatapé, 45km (28 miles) east of the city of Medellín on Sunday. About 150 people are reported to have been on board. A rescue operation is under way. Leisure boats quickly came to the assistance of victims. An air force helicopter has been sent to the area. "The situation looks serious," a local government official told AFP news agency. More than 20 people were taken to a hospital in Guatapé. There are no details yet on why the boat sank.

Egypt's president ratifies islands deal with Saudi Arabia. Tiran (foreground) and Sanafir (background) are uninhabited save for peacekeepers and troops Egypt's President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has ratified a controversial treaty that transfers two largely uninhabited Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia. The deal to hand over Tiran and Sanafir was agreed during a visit to Egypt by Saudi King Salman a year ago. It was backed by Egypt's parliament last week. It has sparked rare protests in Egypt, with Mr Sisi being accused of "selling" territory in return for Saudi aid. However, a legal battle over the islands' status continues. One Egyptian court has annulled the handover decision, while another court has upheld it. The constitutional court is yet to make a final ruling on which institution had the final say. Last week, parliament backed the deal, saying it had jurisdiction in the matter. The move sparked fresh protests in Cairo. Mr Sisi has said the i...