Nigerian air force expands fleet

ABUJA: Nigeria’s air force is acquiring 24 Italian-made M-346 attack jets and ten AW-109 Trekker helicopters as part of a fleet renewal strategy, a spokesperson said on Monday. Air Force spokesperson Olusola Akinboyewa said in a statement that a team led by Nigeria’s Chief of the Air Staff Air Marshal Hasan Abubakar met with executives from Italy’s Leonardo S.p.A. LDOF.MI, the manufacturer, in Rome who confirmed the first three M-346 aircraft were expected to be delivered by early 2025, with subsequent deliveries running until mid-2026. The Trekker helicopters are expected by early 2026, Akinboyewa said. — AFP

Ex-Stasi officer jailed

BERLIN: A former East German secret police officer was sentenced to 10 years in jail for shooting dead a Polish man trying to flee to the West 50 years ago, in a landmark ruling Monday. The decision, almost 35 years after the Berlin Wall fell, marks the first murder conviction for a former Stasi officer for a homicide committed on duty, according to historians. The Berlin court found ex-Stasi officer Martin Naumann, 80, guilty of murder for killing Czeslaw Kukuczka at close range as he sought to flee through Berlin’s Friedrichstrasse border point in 1974. — AFP

Berlusconi’s ‘Bunga Bunga’ case

ROME: Italy’s supreme court on Monday overturned the acquittal of 23 people over allegations they took bribes from late prime minister Silvio Berlusconi to lie in an underage prostitution case that had dogged him for years. The ruling means that even though Berlusconi himself died last year, one of the most famous investigations tied to his extravagant past, lives on. A Milan court in February 2023 had acquitted Berlusconi and all the other defendants - mostly young, female guests at his so-called Bunga Bunga parties - saying they had no case to answer because of alleged legal errors by the prosecutors. However, the supreme court judges rejected the ruling and said the defendants now had to face an appeal trial over the bribery charges. — Reuters

Italy taking migrants to Albania

ROME: An Italian naval ship on Monday headed to Albania carrying a first group of would-be asylum seekers intercepted in the Mediterranean to new Italian migrant centers in Albania, a government source confirmed. The source confirmed to AFP news reports that the Libra patrol vessel was en route for Albania -- where Italy plans to house certain asylum seekers as they await decisions on their asylum claims. Far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni signed a controversial deal in November with her Albanian counterpart Edi Rama to process some asylum seekers in Albania, rather than Italy, which has long been on the front line of migrant arrivals in Europe. — AFP