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Boakai Wins Liberia Presidential Election

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Political veteran Joseph Boakai was on Monday declared winner of Liberia’s presidential election, beating incumbent George Weah, the National Electoral Commission (NEC) said after completing the ballot count.

Boakai won with 50.64 percent of the vote, against 49.36 percent of the vote for former international football star Weah, Davidetta Browne Lansanah, president of the commission, told reporters.

Boakai won with only a 20,567-vote margin.

Weah had already conceded defeat on Friday evening, based on the results of more than 99.98 percent of the polling stations.

The outgoing president and former football star won praise from abroad on Monday for conceding and promoting a non-violent transition in a region marred by coups.

Liberians have once again demonstrated that democracy is alive in the ECOWAS region and that change is possible through peaceful means,” the Economic Community of West African States said in a statement.

Since 2020, ECOWAS states have seen abrupt regime changes with military forces seizing power by force in four of the fifteen member countries: Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Niger.

The election six years ago of Weah — the first African footballer to win both FIFA’s World Player of the Year trophy and the Ballon d’Or — had sparked high hopes of change in Liberia, which is still reeling from back-to-back civil wars and the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic.

But critics have accused his government of corruption and him of failing to keep a promise to improve the lives of the poorest.

While his party lost, “Liberia has won,” Weah had said on radio.

Weah said he had spoken to the man he called the “president-elect” to congratulate him and urged his own supporters to accept the election result.

“This is a time for graciousness in defeat,” he said, adding “our time will come again”.

The African Union sent its congratulations to the president-elect on Monday.

AU chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat also called on “all parties to continue to display maturity and embrace dialogue to consolidate democracy”.

– ‘Defied the stereotype’ –
The West African bloc also said that the post-election phase was “crucial”, and called on “the people of Liberia to maintain and safeguard peace and security”.

However, the electoral commission head said that on Friday it had received two appeals from Weah’s party concerning the conduct of the election in Nimba County.

The commission has 30 days to investigate and reach a decision, she said.

Former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, who led a mediation mission for the election, said he was “deeply pleased with the successful outcome of the democratic process”, in comments posted on X, formerly Twitter.

He went on to congratulate Boakai, urging him “to be magnanimous in victory and seek to continue the efforts to unite” Liberia.

Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is a heavyweight in the West African bloc, commended Weah’s concession saying it had averted any form of socio-political crisis.

“He has defied the stereotype that peaceful transitions of power are untenable in West Africa,” Tinubu said.

Several presidential elections in the region are upcoming in 2024, including polls in Senegal, Ghana and Mauritania, as well as military-ruled Mali and Burkina Faso.

AFP

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International

Iran attacks Israel, Launches Over 100 Drones In Retaliatory Strike

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The Israeli military confirmed the airborne assault, alerting its citizens that an Iranian retaliation was actively underway. The Israeli military confirmed the airborne assault, alerting its citizens that an Iranian retaliation was actively underway.

Tensions between Iran and Israel have escalated sharply as Iran launched more than 100 drones toward Israeli territory late Thursday night in what it described as a retaliatory operation.

The Israeli military confirmed the airborne assault, alerting its citizens that an Iranian retaliation was actively underway.

“This is a different event to what we’ve experienced thus far, and we’re expecting difficult hours,” said IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari in a late-night briefing.

“All aerial defense arrays have been operating to intercept the threats.”

The attack follows a series of Israeli airstrikes earlier this week targeting Iranian military installations.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) stated that the strikes, carried out under the codename Operation Rising Lion, were a “pre-emptive, precise, combined offensive based on high-quality intelligence.”

According to reports, dozens of Israeli airstrikes struck multiple locations across Iran, including high-level military targets.

One of the most significant casualties of the operation was Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Iran’s chief of staff for the armed forces, who was reportedly killed in the Israeli strikes.

Iranian authorities have not issued an official statement confirming Bagheri’s death or detailing the extent of the damage from the Israeli offensive, but state-affiliated media have vowed that a “decisive response” would follow.

Air raid sirens were heard across multiple regions in Israel, and emergency protocols were enacted nationwide as the military attempted to intercept the incoming drones.

Early reports suggest that Israel’s Iron Dome and other defense systems were actively engaged, though the full impact of the drone assault remains unclear at this time.

International leaders have urged both nations to de-escalate, warning that continued retaliation could spiral into a broader regional conflict.

Meanwhile, citizens in both countries have been urged to remain vigilant as military tensions appear far from resolved.

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Air India Plane Crash : One survivor out of 242 Passenger

The aircraft crashed into a residential area of the city called Meghaninagar, Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, the director general of the directorate of civil aviation.

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The back of Air India flight 171 is pictured at the site after it crashed in a residential area near the airport in Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025. A London-bound passenger plane crashed in the Indian city of Ahmedabad on June 12 and all 242 people on board were believed killed, with the jet smashing into buildings housing doctors and their families. (Photo by Sam PANTHAKY / AFP)

An Air India flight which was en route to London Gatwick has crashed in India.

At least 242 people were on board the flight when it crashed shortly after take-off in the northwestern Indian city of Ahmedabad.Local police initially said there appeared to be no survivors.

The Reuters news agency report that at least 204 bodies have been recovered from the crash site.

But Sky News has confirmed that Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a British national, survived the plane crash in Ahmedabad.Here is all we know so far.Where did the plane crash?

Air India Flight 171 took off from Ahmedabad Airport at 1.38pm local time on Thursday.

According to flight-tracking website Flightradar, the aircraft reached a height of 625ft before crashing.

The last signal from the plane was received less than a minute after take-off.

The aircraft crashed into a residential area of the city called Meghaninagar, Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, the director general of the directorate of civil aviation, told the Associated Press.

It came down just outside the airport, hitting the residential quarters of BJ Medical College where students were staying.

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Former pupil kills nine, then himself in shooting at Austrian school

The rampage at a school in Graz is a national tragedy that has deeply shaken our entire country,” Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker said, calling it a “dark day in the history of our country”.

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(Reuters) – A former pupil killed nine people and then himself at a secondary school in the southern Austrian city of Graz on Tuesday in the worst school shooting in the country’s modern history.

Austria’s APA news agency reported that a 10th victim died later in the hospital from her wounds.

Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said six of the victims killed in the school were female and three were male, and that 12 people had been injured.

He gave no further details to identify the victims but Austrian media said most were pupils.

Police said they assumed the 21-year-old Austrian shooter, who was found dead in a bathroom, was operating alone when he entered the school with two guns and opened fire. His motive was not yet known.

“The rampage at a school in Graz is a national tragedy that has deeply shaken our entire country,” Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker said, calling it a “dark day in the history of our country”.

“There are no words for the pain and grief that we all – all of Austria – are feeling right now.”

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