International News
Fear, Grief After 41 Dead In ‘Brutal’ Uganda School Attack
Grieving families prepared to bury their dead in western Uganda on Sunday (today) while others desperately searched for loved ones still missing after militants killed dozens of students in a school attack.
Officials say at least 41 people, mostly students, were massacred on Friday in the worst attack of its kind in Uganda since 2010.
Victims were hacked, shot and burned in the late-night raid on Lhubiriha Secondary School in Mpondwe, which lies less than two kilometres (1.2 miles) from the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Pope Francis offered a prayer on Sunday for “the young student victims of the brutal attack” that has shocked Uganda and drawn condemnation from around the globe.
Ugandan authorities have blamed the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a militia based in DR Congo, and are pursuing the attackers who fled back toward the border with six abductees in captivity.
Fifteen others from the community, including five girls, were still missing, said Eriphaz Muhindi, chairman of Kasese district, which shares a long and forested border with DR Congo.
Seventeen victims were burned beyond recognition when the attackers set a locked dormitory ablaze, frustrating efforts to identify the dead and account for the missing.
‘Great pain’
Muhindi said they had been taken away for DNA testing, a process that could take some time.
“This is a great pain to their families,” he told AFP.
Families desperate for news waited all night in the cold outside a mortuary in Bwera, a town near where the attack occurred.
Those able to identify loved ones inside the mortuary embraced and wept as they received the bodies and took them away in coffins for burial.
Others milled about anxiously, still without any information of their relatives.
The government said Sunday it would assist with funeral arrangements and supporting the injured.
Thirty-seven students died in the attack, said Uganda’s first lady and education minister, Janet Museveni.
The badly burned bodies of 17 male students were found in their dormitory which was totally destroyed by fire.
Witnesses said they locked the door when they heard gunshots.
Twenty female students tried to run to safety but were hacked to death with machetes.
Investigators said a security guard at the school gate was shot dead as the attackers forced their way in, while three members of the public were also killed.
‘They will pay’
The African Union, France and the United States, a close ally of Uganda, offered their condolences and condemned the bloodshed.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said: “Those responsible for this appalling act must be brought to justice.”
Museveni said the army would track down “these evil people and they will pay for what they have done”.
But questions have been raised about how the attackers managed to evade detection in a border region with a heavy military presence.
Major General Dick Olum told AFP that intelligence suggested the presence of the ADF in the area at least two days before the attack, and an investigation would be needed to establish what went wrong.
Uganda and DR Congo launched a joint offensive in 2021 to drive the ADF out of their Congolese strongholds, but the measures have failed to blunt the group’s violence.
Originally insurgents in Uganda, the ADF gained a foothold in eastern DRC in the 1990s and have since been accused of killing thousands of civilians.
The Islamic State group has claimed the ADF as its Central African affiliate.
Attacks in Uganda are rare but in June 1998, 80 students were burnt to death in their dormitories in an ADF raid on Kichwamba Technical Institute near the DR Congo border.
More than 100 students were abducted.
Friday’s attack is the deadliest in Uganda since 2010, when 76 people were killed in twin bomb8
ngs in the capital Kampala by the Somalia-based group Al-Shabaab.
According to Mundo Deportivo, the Premier League is the top league in terms of player contributions to the 2026 World Cup, sending 162 players to the 48-team tournament.
With the World Cup squad lists finalized, and despite last-minute withdrawals due to injury, such as Belardi from Argentina and Kahr from Germany, it can be concluded that the Premier League is once again leading the world’s major leagues. England’s top flight has solidified its position as the largest source of players for the 48 World Cup teams.
As of June 7th, out of the 1244 confirmed selected players, 13% play in the Premier League, totaling 162 individuals, with 5 clubs contributing at least 10 players each.
Manchester City leads the clubs contributing national team players to the World Cup with 19 players. Following closely among English teams are Arsenal with 16, Manchester United with 12, Crystal Palace with 12, and Liverpool with 11. The English top flight has once again proven its representation in football, and this advantage is now reflected on the World Cup stage.
Although there is a gap with the Premier League, the Bundesliga is still the second-highest contributor of players to the upcoming World Cup in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Specifically, 100 participating players currently play in the Bundesliga, with Bayern Munich being the largest contributor from the Bundesliga, with 17 players selected. Borussia Dortmund contributed 11 players. In recent years, the Bundesliga’s global influence has continuously increased, with Hoffenheim having 9 World Cup players and Eintracht Frankfurt having 8.
Without Barcelona, La Liga’s presence would be much smaller. Including Gündoğan, Barcelona will have 16 players participating in the World Cup, making it one of the clubs contributing the most players to this World Cup. La Liga has a total of 81 players selected, only half that of the Premier League. After Barcelona, Atlético Madrid is the Spanish club with the most players contributed, with 12, surpassing Real Madrid’s 10, as Real Madrid also suffers from the impact of a poor season performance.
Ligue 1 has a total of 78 players participating in the World Cup, with Paris Saint-Germain accounting for a large proportion. Among these 78 players, nearly 20% come from this newly crowned European champion, specifically 15 players. Following Paris Saint-Germain among Ligue 1 clubs are Lille and Nice, both with 8 players selected.
Italy once had the best league in the world, and now Serie A contributes 66 players to this most important football event, which is also related to the Italian team missing the World Cup for the third consecutive time. AC Milan, which finished fifth in Serie A, is the Italian club with the most World Cup players, with 10.
Another data point that demonstrates the strength of English football is that the EFL Championship, England’s second-tier league after the Premier League, has 36 players participating in the World Cup, which is more than the total of other major European second-tier leagues, such as the 2. Bundesliga with 6, Ligue 2 with 6, Serie B with 5, and Segunda División with 5. In fact, the Championship is among the top ten leagues contributing the most World Cup players, even higher than the Brazilian and Dutch leagues.
June 5th, Transfermarkt updated. The new market values of Barcelona players. Three players increased and nine decreased, with Raphinha dropping by 10 million to 70 million euros.
Increase (Euros)
Joan-Garcia increased by 5 million to 45 million
Eric-Garcia increased by 5 million to 40 million
Gerard-Martin increased by 10 million to 35 million
Decrease (Euros)
Raphinha decreased by 10 million to 70 million
Kounde decreased by 5 million to 60 million
Balde decreased by 5 million to 50 million
De Jong decreased by 10 million to 35 million
Casado decreased by 2 million to 18 million
Christensen decreased by 1 million to 8 million
Cancelo decreased by 1 million to 8 million
Lewandowski decreased by 1 million to 7 million
Szczesny decreased by 100,000 to 800,000
Unchanged (Euros)
Yamal 200 million
Pedri 150 million
Fermin 100 million
Cubarsi 80 million
Olmo 60 million
Ferran Torres 50 million
Rashford 40 million
Gavi 30 million
Bernal 30 million
Araujo 20 million
Bardghji 15 million
Bitcoin dropped below $60,000 on Friday, its lowest level since October 2024, just before Donald Trump’s election which propelled it to a record high.
The currency fell by about 6 percent around 1615 GMT, to $59.7709, before paring its losses slightly.
The election of Trump, a staunch advocate of cryptocurrencies, to the White House in November 2024 for a second term sparked a wave of enthusiasm in the sector, sending the price of bitcoin soaring to nearly $110,000.
AFP
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