KIGALI, Rwanda (AA) – Burkina Faso’s military government said on Monday it had suspended France 24 broadcasts after the TV station ran an interview with the head of the al-Qaeda’s North African wing. The channel aired an interview with Yezid Mebarek, head of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), earlier this month. Mebarek, also known [&hell...
LONDON (AA) – Scotland’s health secretary has been elected as the chair of the Scottish National Party (SNP) following 14 days of voting by the party members. Humza Yousaf became the first Muslim to lead a major UK party and is set to be confirmed as the first ethnic minority leader of a devolved government […]
ACCRA, Ghana (AA) – US Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday pledged $100 million to help combat the threat of violent extremism and instability in Sahel countries. “We recognize Ghana’s significant contribution to the Sahel and I thank you for your leadership there,” said Harris during her speech at the Jubilee House ...
ISTANBUL / BRUSSELS (AA) – The Kremlin has said that reactions from the West will not dislodge plans by Moscow to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus. “Such a reaction (from the West), of course, cannot affect Russia’s plans,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in a press briefing in Mosco...
Beirut, Lebanon (AFP): Wrecked by a crippling economic meltdown and political deadlock, Lebanon is mulling over an odd question: “What time is it?” A last-minute decision to delay daylight savings by a month has left the country divided between two time zones after the move was met with opposition from the influential Maronite Chur...
ANKARA (AA) – Around 60,000 Syrians in Türkiye have returned to their home country across the border since the February 6 earthquakes, the Turkish national defense minister has said. Speaking in the quake-hit Hatay province, Hulusi Akar rebuffed claims of illegal crossings at the Turkish border, saying it “is absolutely untrue.R...
ISTANBUL (AA) – Azerbaijan has once again proposed to hold talks in the capital Baku with representatives of the Armenian population in Karabakh for their reintegration into Azerbaijani society. “As a follow-up to the meeting held in Khojaly on March 1 and the invitation presented on March 13, the Office of the President of the […...
Khartoum, Sudan (AFP): Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has called on troops to “end” support for authoritarian leaders as talks begin on military reforms, part of a prolonged transition to civilian rule. Burhan had seized power in a 2021 coup that derailed a short-lived democratic transition following the 2019 ouste...
Johannesburg, South Africa (AFP): The family of a South African held hostage by rebels in Mali for over five years have launched a fresh appeal for his release, just days after a French journalist was freed. Gerco van Deventer, 47, was kidnapped in Libya on November 3, 2017, on his way to a power plant […]
JERUSALEM (AA) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Monday that he would postpone controversial plans to overhaul the judiciary, which had sparked mass protests nationwide. In a speech, Netanyahu said there is an “extremist minority” that is trying to divide Israel. “If there is a way to avoid civil war th...
