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  • Turkey requests Interpol red notice for Netanyahu over Sumud Flotilla

    Turkey requests Interpol red notice for Netanyahu over Sumud Flotilla

    In a sharp escalation of diplomatic tensions between Turkey and Israel, Turkish Justice Minister Akin Gurlek announced Friday that Ankara has formally asked Interpol to issue international Red Notices for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a second Israeli official, Afek Moskovitch, on charges of genocide and multiple other crimes against humanity. The legal action stems from Israel’s 2026 intercept of the Global Sumud Flotilla, a civilian vessel carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza that was raided by Israeli forces in international waters earlier this year.

    Gurlek confirmed in an official statement posted to the social media platform X that the request follows arrest warrants issued by Turkish courts on July 14, 2026. “Pursuant to the arrest warrants issued on 14 July 2026 for Benjamin Netanyahu and Afek Moskovitch on charges of genocide, our Ministry of Justice requested that the Ministry of Interior seek Interpol Red Notices for their international apprehension. The relevant documents have also been forwarded to our Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” Gurlek said.

    The two Israeli figures face a broad array of charges in addition to genocide, including crimes against humanity, aggravated unlawful detention, intentional bodily harm, torture and cruel treatment, property destruction, aggravated robbery, and hijacking of civilian transport. All charges are directly linked to the Israeli military operation against unarmed civilian activists delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza in international waters, and the subsequent detention of those activists, Gurlek added.

    The Turkish government’s legal move comes just days after a major escalation in regional hostilities: Israeli warplanes carried out strikes earlier this week on the Abu al-Duhur military airbase in northern Syria, a facility located roughly 70 kilometers from the Turkish border. The airstrike was followed by a thinly veiled public threat from Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz directed at Turkish leadership on Thursday.

    In a social media statement, Katz claimed that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “is dragging Turkey into dangerous adventures in Syria.” He added that Israel would not permit any actor to threaten its national security, and urged Erdogan to rein in what Katz called anti-Israel rhetoric rather than “attempting to test Israel’s resolve to defend itself.”

    Israel justified the airstrike with unsubstantiated claims that Syria was on the brink of violating a long-standing security status quo by allowing Turkish military personnel to deploy at the Abu al-Duhur base. Both Turkish and Syrian officials have categorically rejected these allegations. Turkey’s defense ministry emphasized that there had been no Turkish military presence at the facility either before or during Israel’s “unacceptable” attack, and called for an immediate end to such reckless Israeli actions.

    Syrian officials told Middle East Eye that only a Turkish civilian technical team was present at the base to conduct repairs on the runway and air traffic control tower, with no military personnel deployed to the site. The Turkish presidency issued a statement Wednesday arguing that the Israeli airstrike was motivated by domestic political considerations, noting that the attack was timed ahead of Israel’s general election scheduled for October, and served Netanyahu’s personal re-election campaign.

    Netanyahu pushed back against these claims Wednesday, confirming that Israel had pre-warned Syria against allowing any Turkish presence at the base. “Our message was very clear: Don’t. I guess they didn’t quite understand the message,” he said. Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani rejected Israel’s justification entirely, stating that the bombing had no legitimate legal or strategic basis.

    In the wake of the Tuesday airstrikes, the United States has moved to de-escalate tensions between the three regional actors. Tom Barrack, the U.S. special presidential envoy for Syria and Iraq, told Reuters that Washington is currently working to establish a formal deconfliction mechanism that will prevent unintended clashes between Israeli, Turkish, and Syrian forces operating in northern Syria.

  • ‘Bloodline punishment’: Iranian family faces ongoing punitive ICE detention

    ‘Bloodline punishment’: Iranian family faces ongoing punitive ICE detention

    More than four months have passed since a Los Angeles-based Iranian family of three lawful permanent residents was taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, detained not for any crime they committed, but over a relative’s political role during a 1979 diplomatic crisis decades before two of them were even born.

    In an open letter published in *The Nation*, Maryam Tahmasebi, an Iranian scholar and one of the three detainees, described the family’s treatment as a clear case of “bloodline punishment.” Tahmasebi, her husband Eissa Hashemi — also an academic — and their 16-year-old son, who has lived most of his life in Southern California, all hold clean criminal records. Their green cards were revoked following a targeted online campaigning against the family, and they have remained behind bars since early April.

    The basis of the government’s action traces back to the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, when 53 American diplomats and citizens were held captive by militant student groups in Tehran. Hashemi is the son of Masoumeh Ebtekar, a former Iranian politician who served as a translator for the hostage takers that year — years before Hashemi was born. Tahmasebi emphasized in her letter that the U.S. government chose to punish her husband exclusively for his maternal family connection, not any action of his own.

    Hashemi was first arrested on April 9 and transferred to the South Texas Detention Center in Pearsall, where he remains in custody. The following day, Tahmasebi and their teenage son were detained while en route to the boy’s school. The pair are now held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, a for-profit ICE facility in South Texas designed primarily to detain women and children. For years, lawmakers and immigrant rights activists have pushed to shut down this detention center, citing extensive documentation of systemic abuse, neglect, and psychologically traumatizing conditions for detainees, especially minor held in custody.

    When Tahmasebi requested a transfer to be held in the same facility as her husband, she was told family separation is an official U.S. government policy that would not be waived, per her account. In a striking turn, even the family’s request for voluntary departure — a standard legal process that allows people facing deportation to leave the U.S. voluntarily without a permanent deportation order on their record — was rejected by federal authorities.

    Tala Alfoqaha, the family’s lead legal counsel, told Middle East Eye that the government’s refusal to approve voluntary departure confirms the detention is purely punitive, with no legitimate immigration or national security purpose. “This is a case that stands for the idea that you can do every single thing right and still end up in ICE detention,” Alfoqaha said. “They’re not being detained on the basis of what they’ve done, but who they are as Iranians with parents who’ve lived and worked.”

    Alfoqaha drew a parallel to one of the darkest chapters of U.S. history, noting the case echoes the mass internment of Japanese American citizens during World War II, when thousands were imprisoned solely based on their ethnic ancestry, not any unlawful action. In a statement to NBC Los Angeles, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security defended its action, claiming the three family members’ presence in the country “posed a clear threat to our national security and foreign policy.”

    In her letter written from detention, Tahmasebi warned that the case sets a dangerous precedent for all immigrant communities in the U.S. “If this could happen to us, a law-abiding family of two professors and a young boy, it can happen to anyone,” she wrote.

    As of December 2024, federal data shows at least 577 Iranian nationals are currently held in ICE detention facilities across the country, a trend many immigrant rights advocates frame as part of broader political retaliation against Iranians amid ongoing U.S. geopolitical tensions with the Iranian government.

  • ‘He hates Palestine’: West Ham urges fans to drop chant about Solomon’s pro‑Israel stance

    ‘He hates Palestine’: West Ham urges fans to drop chant about Solomon’s pro‑Israel stance

    English Premier League club West Ham United has made a public appeal to its fanbase to abandon an offensive, divisive chant targeting new winger Manor Solomon that carries an explicit anti-Palestine message, just days ahead of the club’s 2025-26 FA Cup clash against Charlton Athletic.

    Solomon, a former Israeli soldier who moved to West Ham from Tottenham Hotspur in August 2025, has long courted controversy for his repeated public defense of Israel’s military occupation and its large-scale military operations in Gaza, making him a polarizing figure across European football. The chant that has drawn condemnation from West Ham’s leadership, which labels the lyrics ‘Manor Solomon’s on my mind and he hates Palestine’, has followed Solomon throughout his recent spells in European leagues. The same chant was first aired by Leeds United supporters during his 2024-25 loan spell at the Championship club, before reemerging after his transfer to West Ham.

    In an official statement released Thursday, the club made clear that the chant violates its core institutional values of unity and inclusion. The statement emphasized that all individuals associated with West Ham—from players and coaching staff to matchgoing supporters—are expected to uphold the club’s commitment to respect across all backgrounds and beliefs. ‘We are as our name says: United,’ the club’s statement read, reinforcing its expectation of inclusive behavior from its fanbase.

    What has been less widely reported until now is the long track record of controversial pro-occupation and pro-military statements that Solomon has made throughout the current Gaza crisis, aligning him with the most hardline factions of Israeli public opinion amid the conflict. As far back as October 2023, leading Israeli sports outlet Sport 5 openly described Solomon as a leading figure in Israeli state propaganda, praising him for amplifying content that framed Israel as the justified party in the conflict.

    One of the most high-profile incidents of Solomon taking a public stance came hours after the deadly October 17, 2023 explosion at al-Ahli Arab Hospital in central Gaza City, where thousands of displaced Palestinians had taken shelter to escape Israeli airstrikes. Gaza’s Ministry of Health recorded 471 deaths and 342 additional injuries from the blast. Immediately after the attack, Solomon parroted the Israeli government’s false claim that Palestinian armed groups were responsible for the explosion, writing on social media: ‘They kill their own people, then blame Israel.’ Open-source investigative agency Forensic Architecture later debunked Israel’s core claims, confirming that the projectile that caused the explosion originated from Israeli positions.

    In the 18 months following the hospital explosion, Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has systematically dismantled the strip’s entire healthcare system. Forensic Architecture’s research has found that Israeli military operations have forced 35 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals to suspend services at different points of the campaign, with 31 hospitals directly targeted in airstrikes, 11 placed under full military siege, and 10 invaded by ground forces.

    Solomon again aligned himself with Israeli military policy during the planned invasion of Rafah in May 2024. As millions of people around the world shared the viral slogan ‘All Eyes on Rafah’ to draw attention to the more than one million Palestinian civilians sheltering in the city—then the last remaining unoccupied area in Gaza—Solomon pushed back against critics of the planned assault, responding: ‘Where were your eyes on October 7?’ The subsequent Israeli ground invasion of Rafah reduced large swathes of the city to rubble and displaced hundreds of thousands of additional civilians. Israeli outlet Walla later praised Solomon for continuing to defend Israeli military action on social media despite widespread international backlash against the operation.

    The most recent controversy involving Solomon came in October 2025, during his brief spell at Spanish side Villarreal ahead of his transfer to West Ham. Ahead of a league match in Sevilla, Solomon claimed that the presence of Palestinian flags in the stands made him feel ‘threatened’, and added that he was motivated to score ‘in the faces’ of Sevilla’s supporter group ultras.

    Solomon’s public support for Israeli policy stretches back years before the 2023 Gaza war. During the 2021 Israeli-Palestinian crisis, when Israeli courts ordered the forced expulsion of Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem and Israeli forces stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan—firing tear gas, stun grenades, and rubber bullets at worshippers—Solomon openly backed Israeli military action. After Hamas fired rockets in protest of the Israeli incursions, Israel launched an 11-day aerial bombardment of Gaza that killed at least 256 Palestinians, including 66 children, wounded almost 2,000 more, and displaced more than 70,000. Amid global outcry over the civilian death toll, Solomon declared: ‘I support Israel’s right to defend itself.’

    This report was originally published by Middle East Eye, an independent outlet specializing in coverage of the Middle East and North Africa region.

  • Muslims advised to use less water to perform ablutions

    Muslims advised to use less water to perform ablutions

    Amid ongoing concerns over water scarcity following a record-dry summer across the United Kingdom, the country’s water industry regulator Ofwat has sparked fierce public debate by rolling out a targeted water efficiency program that calls for adjustments to longstanding religious and cultural water use practices among minority communities.

    The initiative, formally named the ‘Water Efficiency in Faith and Diverse Communities’ program, is fully funded by Ofwat, the non-ministerial government body that oversees UK water services. One of its flagship pilot projects was developed through a cross-sector partnership between South Staffordshire Water, the University of Cambridge’s Faculty of Divinity, Cambridge Central Mosque – the UK’s first purpose-built eco-friendly mosque – and a range of other community and industry organizations.

    The Cambridge pilot focused specifically on wudu, the ritual ablution Muslims perform before daily prayers. The project encouraged participating worshippers to complete their wudu using just one liter of water, typically measured in a reusable bottle. Ofwat data shows that many practitioners currently use up to 12 liters of running water for five daily prayer preparations, meaning switching to the one-liter method could cut an individual’s daily water use for this ritual by as much as 55 liters. Across the pilot site, the initiative delivered an estimated total daily water savings of 5,900 liters.

    Program organizers have recommended that the one-liter wudu guidance be widely distributed through Islamic television channels to reach a broader audience, but they also issued a key caveat: water providers must avoid framing the guidance as an accusation that Muslim communities are uniquely responsible for water waste. Notably, the guidance aligns with historical Islamic tradition, as religious teachings widely hold that the Prophet Muhammad never used more than one liter of water for ritual ablution.

    A second component of the program, backed by £270,000 in public funding, targets water use in Asian cooking, specifically the practice of washing rice before preparation. 2014 MasterChef champion Ping Coombes led outreach for this strand, sharing guidance in a public YouTube video. Coombes noted that it is common for home cooks to rinse rice five to seven times until the run-off water is completely clear, but argued that two rinses are sufficient to achieve the desired texture and cleanliness, cutting unnecessary water waste dramatically.

    While Ofwat frames the program as a collaborative, community-centered effort to protect precious water supplies, it has drawn sharp criticism from across the political and environmental spectrum. Critics argue that water companies and regulators should prioritize fixing the country’s crumbling, leaky pipe infrastructure rather than asking ordinary households – particularly minority communities – to adjust their cultural and religious practices.

    Data from a July 2025 Greenpeace UK investigation underscores this critique: the research found that 2.87 billion liters of water are lost to leaky pipes across England and Wales every single day – enough to fill more than 1,150 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Greenpeace’s analysis also found that the volume of water lost through infrastructure leaks is five times greater than the total water savings that would be delivered by a national hosepipe ban.

    Shadow Cabinet Office Minister Mike Wood echoed public frustration in comments to The Telegraph, arguing that the program represents a misallocation of scarce public funds at a time of soaring household costs. ‘Cutting down on water waste is a noble aim, but the bigger issue here is the waste of taxpayers’ money,’ Wood said. ‘Families are already facing huge bill increases; they will not be best pleased that their money is being spent on bizarre schemes centred on trying to change longstanding religious and cultural practices.’

    In an official response to Middle East Eye, an Ofwat spokesperson pushed back against criticism, emphasizing that the program was developed in close collaboration with participating faith and community groups, and does not mandate changes to religious or cultural traditions. ‘This summer’s prolonged dry weather reminds us of the need for all of us to use water more efficiently and to be stewards of this finite, precious resource,’ the spokesperson said. ‘This pilot worked in collaboration with water companies, charities and with multiple faith groups to provide different communities with relevant and practical suggestions to save water and finished in April 2025. It did not tell people what they can or can’t do, or impinge on religious worship or custom.’

    The controversial Ofwat program is one part of a broader national push for water efficiency in the UK: in June 2025, the UK government launched a £75 million national public campaign titled ‘Let’s Save Water’, which urges all households to cut water use through small, daily habit changes.

  • Iran promises to resist interference by foreign ‘enemies’ as Trump threatens new sanctions

    Iran promises to resist interference by foreign ‘enemies’ as Trump threatens new sanctions

    Deepening geopolitical friction in the Middle East moved into a new phase this week, as Iran’s top parliamentary official struck a defiant tone affirming unbreakable ties with neighboring Iraq, even as the Trump administration unveiled plans for sweeping new economic pressure targeting the Islamic Republic and its partners.

    Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Speaker of Iran’s Parliament, delivered the remarks Thursday during an Arbaeen religious gathering held in Iraq’s holy city of Karbala. He emphasized that historical connections, shared geographic borders and overlapping religious convictions create an permanent bond between Iran and Iraq that outside efforts to divide the two nations will never succeed in breaking. Far from weakening their alliance, Ghalibaf argued, external interference will only strengthen cooperation between Tehran and Baghdad.

    “Our two nations have long rejected being reduced to afterthoughts in other countries’ geopolitical plans, and we have never allowed Western capitals to shape our collective future,” Ghalibaf stated, adding that Iran and Iraq remain committed to keeping control of their national sovereignties out of foreign hands. He called for expanded bilateral security coordination, and urged both governments to align their efforts to drive shared economic growth and broader development across the region. Per Iran’s state-run Tasnim News Agency, Ghalibaf also pushed for joint infrastructure and development projects that would raise living standards for citizens of both countries, strengthen regional economic sovereignty, and limit the ability of outside powers to exert influence across the Middle East.

    Ghalibaf’s address came on the heels of aggressive new announcements from the White House, where U.S. President Donald Trump has launched what he calls an “economic D-Day” campaign against Iran, warning that any nation that maintains working ties with Tehran will face severe economic repercussions. The decades-long standoff between Washington and Tehran has escalated sharply in recent weeks, with a de facto ceasefire between the two sides collapsing entirely, and the U.S. still unable to assert full military control over the strategically critical Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of global oil supplies pass daily.

    U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed the administration’s plans Thursday during an interview with CNBC, stating that Washington will roll out “the toughest sanctions in history” against Iran, ramping up economic pressure despite mounting global economic fallout from the ongoing conflict. “This is a one-two punch: we already have a blockade in place, and now we are bringing the strongest sanctions ever enacted,” Bessent said. “This will work in Iran, and we are going to collapse this regime.” He added that full details of the new sanctions package will be released publicly this coming Monday, just one day after Trump first announced the “economic D-Day” initiative.

    Iranian officials have dismissed the new sanctions as an act of economic warfare that deliberately targets vulnerable civilian populations, describing the measures as “economic terrorism” and crimes against humanity. The escalating conflict has already sent shockwaves through global commodity markets: international benchmark Brent Crude rose 2% on Thursday to trade at $93.41 per barrel, creating a political headache for the Trump administration as it works to curb rising interest rates and inflation. Disruptions to global shipping have been even more severe, with tanker charter costs skyrocketing amid security risks in key waterways. The BWET Exchange Traded Fund, which tracks global shipping rates, has surged 98% over the past 30 days alone.

    When asked about the unexpected spike in energy prices, Bessent claimed that “we have asymmetric information, and I’m not sure why oil has popped up on this.” Tensions remain high across two key maritime chokepoints: Iran continues to target commercial vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz, while the Ansar Allah movement (commonly referred to as the Houthis), the Iran-aligned group controlling northern Yemen, has enforced a blockade of commercial shipping heading to Saudi Arabia through the Red Sea. Saudi Arabia, which relies on Red Sea shipping to export much of its crude production, has been forced to reroute oil shipments through a pipeline that carries crude to Mediterranean ports via Egypt.

    Bessent also called on China to align with the U.S. campaign of sanctions against Iran, arguing that Beijing stands to benefit directly from the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and a subsequent drop in global energy prices. When asked whether the U.S. would impose secondary sanctions on Chinese entities that continue to do business with Iran, Bessent said such conversations are best held in private, but expressed confidence that the global community broadly shares Washington’s goal of reopening the strategic waterway. “The Chinese get 50 percent of their energy from inside the Gulf,” he noted. “So it would do them a big service to get with the programme.”

  • Death of Syrian detainee sparks protest and conversation about prison reform

    Death of Syrian detainee sparks protest and conversation about prison reform

    ### Custody Death Sparks National Outcry as Syria Navigates Post-Assad Reform
    Nearly eight months after the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s 24-year authoritarian regime, the in-custody death of a 29-year-old former rescue volunteer has ignited widespread public protest and renewed scrutiny of Syria’s transitional government’s efforts to dismantle the legacy of systemic detention abuse. Mohammed Ghamira, a father of two who previously volunteered with the White Helmets civilian rescue organization, was taken into custody earlier this month over an alleged financial dispute. He was transferred from a police station in Latakia province’s al-Haffah district in critical condition, and pronounced dead shortly after arriving at a local hospital.

    Official statements from Syrian authorities confirmed Ghamira’s death was caused by cerebral and gastrointestinal hemorrhaging stemming from a beating he received while in detention. The young man lived with hemophilia, a rare bleeding disorder that prevents the body from clotting blood properly after injury. Ghamira’s family confirmed they had explicitly warned detention officials of his pre-existing condition and requested he not be subjected to physical violence before his death.

    A three-day official investigation launched by the new Syrian administration concluded Thursday, finding that Ghamira died after being slapped by a police investigator. The officer responsible for the assault has been taken into custody and referred to judicial authorities for prosecution. The probe also uncovered multiple procedural failures and negligence on the part of the local police department’s chief and the investigating officer, most critically the failure to document Ghamira’s known medical condition in official detention records.

    News of Ghamira’s death quickly sparked public backlash across the country. Earlier this week, hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Aleppo to demand full accountability for the killing. Many carried signs bearing the message: “Do not repeat the oppression that we revolted against,” echoing widespread public rejection of the abusive detention system that defined the Assad era. Syrian activist Nedal al-Amari called the case a devastating betrayal of the revolution that ousted Assad last December. “After liberation, every Syrian who is killed under torture in state prisons or institutions is a disgrace that we, as people of the revolution, have to carry,” al-Amari wrote on social media platform X.

    Ahmed al-Sharaa’s new government took power in December 2024 after a rapid offensive defeated Assad’s forces, ending decades of brutal authoritarian rule. During Assad’s time in power, the regime oversaw a sprawling network of more than 100 detention facilities where systematic torture, extrajudicial killing, and enforced disappearance were widespread. Rights groups documented that between the start of the 2011 pro-democracy protests that sparked the civil war and August 2024, more than 150,000 people—including more than 5,000 children and 10,000 women—were arrested by Assad’s security forces. Tens of thousands of detainees were tortured to death in facilities like Sednaya Prison, which Amnesty International labeled a “human slaughterhouse,” where mass executions, deliberate starvation, and mass unmarked graves of detainees were documented as crimes against humanity.

    International and local rights analysts say the public backlash over Ghamira’s death signals a key shift from the Assad era, when open discussion of abuse in custody was strictly forbidden and criticism of the regime carried severe punishment. Saana-Maria Jokinen, a Syria-based human rights researcher and writer, noted that unlike during Assad’s rule, Ghamira’s death is being openly covered by Syrian media, and citizens are freely expressing outrage and demanding accountability without fear of repression. “A very tragic case,” Jokinen wrote on X. “However, in stark contrast to the days of the Assad regime, Ghamira’s death is openly discussed in the Syrian media and Syrians aren’t afraid to voice their criticism.”

    Local and international human rights groups acknowledge that the fall of the Assad regime brought an immediate end to the centralized system of mass arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, and systematic torture that defined the prior era. The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), a leading independent monitoring group, told Middle East Eye that meaningful progress has already been made under the transitional government. The new Syrian constitution, adopted in March 2025, includes explicit legal protections: Article 18 enshrines guarantees for human dignity and physical integrity, and explicitly bans enforced disappearance as well as physical and psychological torture. SNHR data shows at least 993 detainees have been released from former regime detention facilities in the first half of 2025 alone.

    At the same time, the monitoring group documented 192 cases of arbitrary detention by the transitional government in the same six-month period, and warned that a fully compliant, rights-respecting detention system aligned with Syria’s international human rights obligations has not yet been fully built. “These facts show, at one and the same time, a measure of progress and the limits of this progress,” SNHR said. The group rejected claims that the new administration has recreated the abusive detention apparatus of the Assad regime, noting there is no evidence of centrally orchestrated torture or mass arbitrary detention under the current government. Instead, the risks to detainees stem from ongoing institutional gaps and procedural failures.

    “A detainee remains at risk when his arrest isn’t registered immediately, his family isn’t informed of his whereabouts, lawyers and doctors can’t reach him quickly, or when he is held in unofficial facilities, his transfers aren’t documented, and independent monitors can’t inspect places of detention without prior notification,” SNHR explained. The organization has called on the transitional government to implement urgent reforms, including creating a unified, public register of all detainees, guaranteeing timely access to legal representation, family visits, and medical care for all people in custody, shutting down unofficial detention facilities that operate outside formal judicial and administrative oversight, and opening all detention sites to independent inspection.

  • Ethiopia’s Virgin Mary festival in Tigray cancelled over drone strike fears

    Ethiopia’s Virgin Mary festival in Tigray cancelled over drone strike fears

    One of northern Ethiopia’s most beloved cultural celebrations centered on women and young girls will not go forward this year in Mekelle, the capital of conflict-weary Tigray region, after authorities called off the main Ashenda festival gathering over growing threats of drone attacks and renewed civil conflict.

    The three-day Ashenda festival, whose name translates to “tall green grass” in the local Tigrinya language, blends Orthodox Christian religious observance of the Virgin Mary with decades of cultural tradition that centers the joy and community of girls and women. Every year, thousands of participants dress in elaborate traditional garments, style their hair in intricate braided patterns, and gather for open-air dancing and socializing — a rare seasonal freedom from the social restrictions that govern women’s public gatherings at other times of the year. For communities across Tigray and northern Ethiopia, the annual event is one of the most anticipated highlights of the cultural calendar.

    This year, the core event was scheduled to be a large public gathering at Mekelle’s main stadium on Saturday. But the cancellation announced by Tigray’s culture and tourism bureau comes on the heels of a series of recent deadly drone strikes across the region that have stoked widespread fears that the 2020–2022 Tigray civil war, which killed an estimated hundreds of thousands of people, could reignite after two years of fragile peace.

    Tigray regional authorities have pinned the recent wave of drone attacks on Ethiopia’s federal armed forces, though the federal government has not yet responded to requests for comment from the BBC on these accusations. The most recent strike hit Mekelle last Thursday, wounding 13 civilians and damaging residential buildings, according to Tigray’s communications affairs bureau. Regional officials also documented two earlier strikes near Dandera, a town just nine miles outside of Mekelle, on August 18 that left one person dead and another injured. A strike in the Raya-Alamata district on August 10 killed three people, regional officials confirmed.

    Announcing the decision to cancel the main stadium gathering, Dori Asgedom, head of Tigray’s culture and tourism bureau, said the event could not proceed due to “ongoing drone strikes and the threat of war.” He added, “The drone attack on innocent citizens in Mekelle city is an act that history will not forgive and should be condemned.”

    The Tigray regional administration has called on global actors to step in amid escalating tensions, urging the “international community to break their silence” on the recent strikes, condemn the violence, and launch urgent diplomatic efforts to prevent full-scale conflict from reigniting.

    The fragile peace deal signed in 2022 between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and Ethiopia’s federal government brought an end to two years of brutal fighting that devastated Tigray’s infrastructure and left a massive humanitarian crisis in its wake. But tensions have spiked sharply in recent months after the TPLF dissolved the interim administration established under the peace agreement and reinstated its pre-war governing council. Both sides have repeatedly accused one another of failing to uphold the terms of the 2022 peace deal, pushing the region back to the brink of open conflict.

  • UN holds second informal poll of secretary-general candidates

    UN holds second informal poll of secretary-general candidates

    The race to succeed António Guterres as United Nations Secretary-General entered a new phase Friday, as the 15-member UN Security Council gathered for a second informal straw poll to measure support for the expanding field of candidates. Guterres’ second five-year term is set to conclude on December 31, 2026, kicking off a months-long selection process that is being shaped heavily by the power of the Security Council’s five permanent veto-wielding members.

    Last month’s first closed-door, secret ballot informal poll placed Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan as the early front-runner among the existing field of contenders. The full roster of candidates already includes Rafael Grossi of Argentina, the current head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet, Maria Fernanda Espinosa of Ecuador, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett of Guyana, Olara Otunnu of Uganda, and former Senegalese president Macky Sall. Since the first straw poll, Ecuador’s Ivonne A-Baki has also entered the race, expanding the pool of hopefuls vying for the UN’s top leadership role.

    Following Friday’s vote, Christina Lassen, Denmark’s UN ambassador and the current holder of the Security Council’s rotating presidency, confirmed that candidates would receive results through their nominating countries’ permanent representatives to the UN, and offered no further public comment on the internal proceedings. Lassen also noted that the council is still weighing when to schedule the next informal survey of support. Zenon Ngay Mukongo, ambassador from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a sitting Security Council member, echoed the widespread uncertainty, telling reporters that “it’s too early to have a consensus” on a leading contender.

    The opaque selection process has long drawn criticism from member states that argue it lacks transparency, but the informal straw poll system has remained in place since its creation in the early 1980s, when it was introduced to break a selection deadlocked by multiple vetoes. Under the process rules, each Security Council member votes anonymously, labeling every candidate as either “encourage,” “discourage,” or “no opinion.” Analysts say the results often give low-support candidates clear signal to exit the race voluntarily, though no rule requires them to withdraw. Daniel Forti, an expert with the International Crisis Group, noted ahead of Friday’s vote that “there is a good chance that some nominees realize after (Friday’s) vote that their campaigns have reached the end of the road.”

    Unlike in later rounds of voting, all ballots in the early polls share the same color, meaning that the veto power of permanent members (P5) — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States — is not made visible in these early stages. After several rounds of polling, P5 ballots will switch to a different color, allowing delegates to identify if a candidate faces a veto from one or more permanent members, without revealing which specific power rejected the candidate. Even if a candidate hits the required threshold of nine out of 15 Security Council votes, they still need to avoid a veto from any of the five permanent powers, which are currently deeply divided on a range of global issues that could shape the selection.

    Many diplomats have declined to predict a final outcome, citing the outsized influence of the P5 powers. Ahead of the vote, Forti noted that the five veto-wielding nations may hold off on announcing their preferences until later in the process, leaving the door open for additional candidates to join the race. Russia’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia confirmed that possibility Thursday, telling reporters that if the current field deadlocks with no candidate emerging as a clear favorite, “we may see other candidates as well.”

    Once a candidate successfully passes the Security Council’s voting and veto requirements, their nomination is sent to the full UN General Assembly for final confirmation. Longstanding UN tradition holds that the secretary-general role rotates between geographic regions, and under that norm, the 2026 selection should produce a leader from Latin America — a region that already accounts for most of the current candidates, though two hopefuls, Sall and Otunnu, hail from Africa.

  • Wrexham not alone: Birmingham eyes Premier League push as promotion buzz builds in Second City

    Wrexham not alone: Birmingham eyes Premier League push as promotion buzz builds in Second City

    BIRMINGHAM, England — For long-time Birmingham City supporter Paul Ellis, the ultimate goal is not just steady progress — it’s a return to England’s top-flight Premier League, and a chance to test the club against the biggest names in British football.

    Last season, Ellis explains, was all about foundational work: bringing in consistent first-team players and building a solid competitive base to set the stage for a promotion push. Now, the entire fanbase and club share one clear expectation: climbing back to the Premier League. Ahead of their first home match of the new Championship season this Saturday, that expectation hangs over the club, Britain’s so-called “Second City”, where promotion has become the only topic of conversation among supporters and staff alike.

    Even as club chairman Tom Wagner continues his recovery from a stroke suffered earlier this year, Birmingham is moving full steam ahead with long-term ambitions: the club has formalized plans for a new 62,000-seat stadium as part of a multi-billion-pound “sports quarter” development, and has set clear on-field targets after a 10th-place Championship finish last season.

    In a pre-season video released to club supporters, Birmingham chief executive Jeremy Dale emphasized the unified ambition that runs through every level of the organization. “We know our owners are very ambitious. Everyone at the club is ambitious, our managers are ambitious, and the players who’ve joined us have come here because they think this is the club where their ambitions can be realized,” Dale said. “So, we’re all aligned on our goals, and there should be no confusion about that.”

    The road to this point has not been smooth. After heavy investment helped Birmingham claim the 2024-25 League One title and climb back to the second division, the club targeted back-to-back promotions last year but fell short of the mark — just like high-profile fellow second-tier side Wrexham. Under current English Football League rules, the top two teams in the 24-club Championship earn automatic promotion to the Premier League, with the final promotion spot decided by a playoff tournament that has expanded from four to six teams starting this season.

    Similar to Wrexham, Birmingham has seen a surge in global attention since a 2023 change in ownership that brought new investment and celebrity ties to the club. U.S.-based Knighthead Capital Management, co-founded by Wagner, first acquired a stake in the club in 2023 before taking full control two years later, clearing the way for the massive sports quarter and new stadium project. The ownership group also added NFL legend Tom Brady as a minority stakeholder to boost the club’s global profile.

    Growing pains have accompanied this new era, however. Former England captain Wayne Rooney lasted less than three months as manager during the 2023-24 season, which ended with Birmingham’s relegation down to League One. In a documentary series covering the club’s turnaround, Brady publicly questioned Rooney’s work ethic, a criticism Rooney later called “very unfair” in public remarks.

    On the pitch, the Blues kick off their home campaign against Bristol City this Saturday, after opening the season with a 0-0 draw away at Sheffield United. The club already notched a 1-0 win over Swansea in the first round of the English League Cup on August 8, a result that gave an early boost to new tactical adjustments.

    Now heading into his third season as Birmingham’s manager, Tony Davies — who previously served as an assistant coach to Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool, Celtic and Leicester, and later worked under Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham Hotspur — is declining to make bold promotion predictions, emphasizing the unforgiving nature of second-tier football. “Every single season in the Championship is hard,” he told reporters at a recent press conference. “You play 46 games … there’s not a lot to separate the sides. It’s really a relentless division.”

    One clear weakness from last season was a lack of offensive production: Birmingham only scored 57 goals in 46 matches, while five of the league’s top six sides scored at least 70 goals. To address this gap, the club made an unusual off-season investment, hiring Scott Fry, one of British football’s most highly regarded emerging set-piece specialists, to join the coaching staff. The move paid an immediate dividend: August Priske’s match-winning goal against Swansea came directly from a carefully designed set piece.

    After that opening League Cup win, Nigerian international right back Bright Osayi-Samuel echoed the club’s collective confidence. “We have big ambitions,” he said. “We believe that we can achieve what we want to achieve.”

    Throughout Wagner’s recovery, the entire club and fanbase has rallied around the American chairman. The club first announced in February that Wagner had suffered a stroke and would step back from day-to-day operations to focus on rehabilitation, but both Davies and Dale confirmed they remain in regular contact with him. Fans have also flooded Wagner with messages of support, a show of care that has not gone unnoticed.

    “You really feel that Birmingham fans really care about him, actually care about his health,” Gary O’Neill, co-host of the unofficial BCFC Royal Blue podcast, noted. Ahead of the new season, the club released an update confirming Wagner “continues to make strong progress in his recovery. He remains deeply grateful for the countless messages of support and well wishes he has received from Blues fans over recent months. Those messages have meant a great deal to him and certainly hardened his resolve to be back in top form as quickly as possible.”

    For Birmingham supporters, a return to the Premier League would cap a 14-year wait: the club last competed in England’s top flight in 2011, the same year it claimed its iconic League Cup win over Arsenal at Wembley Stadium. For Ellis, who attended that final with his two sons, that victory remains the highlight of his decades following the club. Looking ahead, he holds a broader ambition for the whole city: “As we are the Second City, that is the aim, that is the goal, to have both Birmingham City and Aston Villa in the premiership and playing in Europe,” he said. “It’s more of a promotion for the actual city.”

  • Partey signs for Al-Shabab in Saudi Pro League

    Partey signs for Al-Shabab in Saudi Pro League

    Saudi Pro League club Al-Shabab has officially announced the acquisition of Ghanaian international midfielder Thomas Partey, bringing a high-profile but controversial player to the Middle East’s increasingly ambitious football circuit.

    The 33-year-old defensive midfielder arrives at the Riyadh-based club after a five-year spell with English Premier League outfit Arsenal, where he notched 167 first-team appearances between his 2020 transfer from Atletico Madrid and his departure in 2025. After leaving Arsenal, Partey spent a short period at La Liga side Villarreal, but the Spanish club opted against extending his contract this summer, leaving him eligible to sign as a free agent for Al-Shabab.

    Partey’s transfer goes ahead despite ongoing high-stakes legal proceedings hanging over the player. He is scheduled to face trial in the UK next year, after entering a plea of not guilty to seven counts of rape and one count of sexual assault. The charges stem from allegations made by four separate complainants, with the alleged incidents dated between 200 and 2022.

    This is not the first time Partey’s legal situation has disrupted his football career in recent months. During this summer’s FIFA World Cup held in Canada, Partey was barred from entering the country ahead of Ghana’s opening group stage match against Panama. The entry denial was directly tied to his pending UK criminal charges. When applying for entry, Partey incorrectly claimed to Canadian border officials that he had never been arrested or charged with any criminal offense. Following resolution of entry logistics for the remainder of the tournament, Partey was allowed to join his teammates and featured in Ghana’s three subsequent group and knockout matches. The Black Stars were ultimately eliminated in the round of 32 by Colombia.

    For Al-Shabab, the signing comes at a difficult start to their 2024-25 domestic campaign. The club finished 13th in the 16-team Saudi Pro League table last season, and dropped all three points in their opening fixture of the current term. The squad already features a number of recognizable European-based imports, including former Burnley captain Josh Brownhill and ex-Wolverhampton Wanderers winger Daniel Podence.

    Partey, who has earned 61 senior caps for Ghana throughout his international career, becomes the latest high-profile player to make the move to the Saudi Pro League, which has continued to attract top talent from European leagues amid heavy investment from the region’s sports stakeholders.