Footage broadcast by TV GloboNews showed a large area on fire and smoke appearing to billow from an apparent plane fuselage.

A passenger plane carrying 62 people has crashed in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Footage broadcast by TV GloboNews showed a large area on fire and smoke appearing to billow from an apparent plane fuselage.

The plane carrying 62 people, including crew members, has crashed in the city of Vinhedo, Brazil, according to the local firefighters Corps, Sky News reports.

The Voepass flight, an ATR-72 plane, was travelling from Cascavel in Parana state to Guarulhos in Sao Paolo state when it went down.

Voepass has confirmed the incident but has not yet released information on potential fatalities or injuries.

The cause of the crash is still unknown.

A Guinean court has sentenced ex-dictator Moussa Dadis Camara to 20 years in jail for crimes against humanity on Wednesday, after a landmark trial over a 2009 massacre at a political rally.

Seven other defendants were handed terms of up to life imprisonment at the end of the trial that played out over nearly two years, in a judgement welcomed by rights activists.

Security forces had been massively deployed for the hearing, in a case keenly awaited by victims’ families for nearly 15 years.

Just before sentencing, the court had announced the charges would be classified as crimes against humanity.

The court also ordered for compensation to be paid to the victims, running from 200 million to 1.5 billion Guinean francs ($23,000 to $174,000).

On September 28, 2009 and in the following days, members of Dadis Camara’s presidential guard, soldiers, police and militia brutally suppressed an opposition rally at a stadium in the suburbs of Conakry.

In one of the darkest chapters in the West African nation’s history, at least 156 people were killed, hundreds more wounded and 109 women raped, according to a UN-mandated commission of inquiry.

“This trial is of the utmost importance to me,” Kadiatou Sow, who was raped during the massacre and its aftermath, told AFP before the sentencing.

“I want these soldiers to pay a heavy price with sentences befitting their crimes,” added Sow, who also lost her husband in the violence.

Alfa Amadou DS Bah, lead lawyer for the plaintiffs in the case, underlined the importance of the judgement.

“It’s the first time a former head of state has been convicted for such serious crimes, and senior military officers too,” he said.

“I think that this decision must sound the toll against impunity in this country. It’s a great relief for the victims,” he added.

Human Rights Watch also welcomed the judgement.

“The Guinean court’s landmark verdict offers long-awaited justice for victims,” said Tamara Aburamadan, an international justice legal counsel for HRW.

It puts high-level perpetrators in Guinea and elsewhere on notice that justice can prevail.”

Ten of the 12 accused were present to hear the court’s judgement.

Former junta chief Dadis Camara, dressed in a traditional green and yellow boubou, remained motionless as the verdict was read by the court in the capital Conakry.

Along with 11 other government and military officials, Dadis Camara had been accused of murder, sexual violence, torture, abduction and kidnapping.

He always denied any responsibility, blaming his subordinates.

The trial — which began on September 28, 2022, the anniversary of the killings — gripped the West African nation, with the courtroom drama carried on television and radio.

Judges heard from 11 defendants — who blamed each other for the massacre during the trial — as well as a dozen witnesses. Around 100 victims provided chilling testimonies.

The chief prosecutor had called for Dadis Camara and other defendants to be sentenced to life in prison.

Defence lawyers had argued that reclassifying the charges as crimes against humanity on the day of the ruling would rob them of an opportunity to defend themselves and infringe their right to a fair trial.

Both the accused and the plaintiffs have 15 days to appeal the verdict. The prosecutor’s office will have two months.

The trial has taken place against a background of repression of both the opposition to Guinea’s military rulers and the media.

The day before the verdict, protests against the “forced disappearance” of pro-democracy activists Oumar Sylla and Mamadou Billo Bah paralysed parts of Conakry, with several injured in clashes between demonstrators and the police.

Though the authorities deny holding the pair, civil society organisations say they are being held incommunicado. They have called for further demonstrations.

International organisations and human rights activists have highlighted the unprecedented nature of the trial in Guinea.

It is the first of its kind to challenge the impunity of the country’s security forces, which are seldom held to account, according to the UN probe.

The Diplomatic Correspondents’ Association of Nigeria (DICAN) has extended its felicitations to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yussuf Tuggar, on his 57th birthday anniversary.

Tuggar, who comes from a distinguished political background in Bauchi State, has had an impressive career serving the country. His father, a prominent figure himself, served as the Organizing Secretary of the Northern People’s Congress before and after Nigeria’s independence in 1960, and later became a Senator.

Tuggar has held various notable positions. He served as Nigeria’s Ambassador to Germany from 2017 to 2023. Prior to that, he was a member of the Nigerian House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011, representing Gamawa. He also contested for the governorship of Bauchi State on two occasions.

Chairman, Diplomatic Correspondents Association of Nigeria, DICAN, Comrade, Idehai Frederick specifically highlighted Tuggar’s contributions in securing crucial partnerships for Nigeria.

“Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs played a key role in the conceptualization of the Siemens Power deal, which aimed to significantly expand Nigeria’s electricity grid capacity.

“He is also instrumental in attracting significant funding from German institutions for the Kano-Maradi rail line project,” DICAN Chairman said.

The Association however, wished the Minister a happy 57th birthday and many more fruitful years of service to fatherland and humanity.

Meanwhile, DICAN is an association of journalists covering Diplomatic related beats in Nigeria.