Global Pulse

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  • Four men held over child-marriage in Sierra Leone set to appear in landmark court case

    Four men held over child-marriage in Sierra Leone set to appear in landmark court case

    Two years after Sierra Leone implemented a full national ban on child marriage, the West African nation is moving forward with its first ever criminal trial against individuals accused of violating the landmark law, marking a watershed moment for gender equality and the protection of minor girls’ rights.

    Four men are scheduled to appear before a court to face charges linked to the forced marriage of a 17-year-old girl. The accused group includes the victim’s own father and the man who purportedly married her; their identities are being withheld by media outlets to safeguard the underage survivor’s privacy and safety.

    If found guilty, the four defendants face a minimum prison sentence of 15 years, a fine of roughly $4,000, or both penalties combined. Under the 2024 Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, even guests and organizers who attend an underage wedding can be arrested and prosecuted for their involvement.

    Sierra Leone’s deeply patriarchal cultural norms have normalized forced child marriage for generations, with many families routinely coercing young daughters into early unions. Though the law now sets 18 as the legal minimum age of marriage, child marriage cases remain widespread across the country, with many such ceremonies still being officiated by local religious leaders. This specific forced marriage was found to have taken place in Grafton, a suburban community on the outskirts of Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown.

    Alpha Sesay, Sierra Leone’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, confirmed in an interview with the BBC that these charges represent an unprecedented turning point for the enforcement of the 2024 child marriage ban. “This marks the first time that any individual has faced criminal charges for entering into, consenting to, or facilitating a child marriage in our country,” Sesay explained.

    Prior to the 2024 legal reform, Sierra Leone had conflicting national legislation that left a harmful loophole: the Customary Marriage Act still permitted parents to consent to marriage for underage daughters. Two years ago, that outdated customary law was formally struck from the books, establishing a clear legal framework that allows authorities to prosecute any person who participates in the marriage of anyone below the age of 18.

    In addition to the charges against the father and the purported husband, the two other accused face counts of contracting child marriage, consenting to the union, and aiding and abetting the illegal ceremony. Court documents detail that the victim’s father actively facilitated the union, taking key steps during the wedding ceremony to ensure the illegal marriage was completed successfully.

    Gender equality and women’s rights activists across the country have celebrated the unprecedented legal action, framing it as proof that years of advocacy for legal reform are delivering tangible results. Menisa Sesay, president of Legal Access through Women Yearning for Equality Rights and Social Justice — an all-female advocacy group made up of legal professionals — told the BBC she felt “extremely happy” about the milestone.

    Sesay noted that the trial confirms the legal reforms that activists spent years campaigning for are finally being put into practice, validating the movement’s core mission to protect vulnerable women and girls from exploitation.

    Recent data from Human Rights Watch underscores the scale of the crisis that remains: an estimated 30% of all girls in Sierra Leone are married before they turn 18, and in remote rural regions, some brides are as young as 14. For years, activists warned that even after the ban was passed, weak enforcement meant perpetrators faced no consequences for violating the law. But Menisa Sesay says the new charges are a hopeful sign for the future. “The charges brought against the four… is reassuring that there is light at the end of the tunnel for women and girls in Sierra Leone,” she said.

  • Israel releases classified documents detailing 1976 Entebbe raid to free more than 100 hostages

    Israel releases classified documents detailing 1976 Entebbe raid to free more than 100 hostages

    JERUSALEM — On Friday, Israel made public a vast collection of long-classified government documents that lay bare the internal deliberations and high-stakes decision-making behind one of the most legendary operations in Israeli military history: the 1976 Entebbe hostage rescue mission, whose 50th anniversary will be marked on July 3. The declassification comes at a deeply resonant moment for Israel, which is still navigating the fallout from the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas-led militants that killed approximately 1,200 people and abducted 251 hostages to the Gaza Strip, casting a new shadow over decades of Israeli policy on hostage crises.

    The operation itself remains a defining feat of military daring: On June 27, 1976, militants from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and West Germany’s Revolutionäre Zellen hijacked an Air France flight traveling from Tel Aviv to Paris, diverting it to Entebbe Airport in Uganda, where they received backing from then-Ugandan dictator Idi Amin’s government. The hijackers held 106 passengers, the vast majority of whom were Israeli or Jewish, threatening to execute them unless dozens of imprisoned militants were released by multiple countries. In a mission that took under an hour to complete, 29 Israeli commandos flew more than 2,500 miles over hostile territory to storm the airport, rescuing all but three hostages killed in crossfire. All seven hijackers and roughly 45 Ugandan soldiers were killed in the operation, and only one Israeli commando died: Yonatan Netanyahu, older brother of current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The operation’s low casualty count and audacious scope cemented its place as a foundational myth of Israeli military prowess.

    Longstanding popular narrative has framed Entebbe as a turning point where Israel rejected negotiation with hostage-takers in favor of a bold military strike. The newly released files from the Israel State Archives upend that simplified telling, revealing that Israeli leaders under then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin pursued a deliberate two-pronged strategy, only greenlighting the raid when diplomatic efforts showed no signs of progress. For the first six days of the crisis, Rabin’s ad hoc national crisis team took a hard line, refusing any negotiations with the hijackers. But as the militants’ execution deadline drew near and pressure mounted from the hostages’ families, the cabinet shifted position, opening the door to conditional talks.

    “The zero hour is approaching … We believe that a supreme effort must be made and break the ultimatum,” Rabin’s crisis team wrote in one newly released memo, which authorized negotiations on portions of the hijackers’ demands. While pushing forward France-brokered talks with Amin’s government, Israeli military planners simultaneously worked in secret: they built full-scale mockups of the Entebbe terminal to practice the raid, mapped flight routes through African airspace controlled by hostile states, and prepared transport planes for the overnight strike.

    Only when negotiations stalled did leaders give the final order for the mission. Even before the release of these files, much was already known about the broad outlines of the Entebbe operation, but the new documents provide granular, unprecedented insight into the weight of the choices facing the Israeli cabinet. For decades, Israel has maintained a formal policy of occasionally exchanging imprisoned Palestinian detainees for hostages held by militant groups, a practice that has drawn repeated criticism from those who argue it incentivizes future kidnappings. The Entebbe documents confirm Rabin’s administration was willing to test diplomacy before turning to force, contradicting the popular framing of the operation as an outright rejection of negotiation.

    The operation drew international condemnation at the time from Idi Amin and the Organization of African Unity, the predecessor to the modern African Union, which argued the raid violated Ugandan national sovereignty at a time when diplomatic efforts were still ongoing. For Israel, the mission stood as a rare high-profile victory after the trauma of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre, where all nine Israeli hostages were killed during a failed German-led rescue attempt. Even in the immediate aftermath of the operation’s success, however, Rabin warned against overstating its impact on the long-term fight against terrorism, a prescient observation that carries new weight today amid the ongoing Gaza hostage crisis.

    “Let us not deceive ourselves,” Rabin wrote in one personal memo included in the declassified files. “It was an extraordinary operation and achievement. However, the problem is not over. Terrorism continues to operate. What other problems terrorism will pose to us and what lessons we must learn from this matter, it is too early to say. We have finished one battle, but the war continues.”

  • Ex-Trump adviser John Bolton pleads guilty to mishandling classified documents

    Ex-Trump adviser John Bolton pleads guilty to mishandling classified documents

    In a stunning legal development that cuts through the heart of U.S. national security accountability, John Bolton, one of former President Donald Trump’s most high-profile former aides and persistent critics, has entered a guilty plea to a single charge of illegally retaining classified national security materials tied to notes he compiled for his 2020 memoir.

    Bolton, who served as Trump’s White House national security adviser before being fired in 2019, originally faced 18 felony counts related to improper handling of sensitive government information and had pleaded not guilty following his indictment. Friday’s court proceeding marked a dramatic reversal, with the 75-year-old former diplomat acknowledging the accuracy of all allegations against him, including that he shared diary entries containing top-secret national defense data with family members. When asked by the judge whether he committed the acts in question, Bolton confirmed his guilt and issued a public apology for his actions. “I did, your honor,” he told the court, adding “I am sorry for it.”

    Under the terms of the plea deal reached with federal prosecutors, Bolton faces a maximum potential prison sentence of up to five years behind bars. He has already agreed to pay $2.25 million in financial penalties, complete 100 hours of court-ordered community service, and participate in a full debriefing with senior national security officials to account for all improperly retained classified information, according to U.S. reporting from CBS News, the BBC’s U.S. partnership affiliate. Bolton’s formal sentencing is scheduled for October 28, as confirmed by multiple U.S. media outlets.

    Speaking to reporters immediately following Friday’s hearing, U.S. Attorney Kelly Hayes emphasized that Bolton was far from an inexperienced official when it came to handling sensitive government data. As a decades-long national security figure who previously served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations under George W. Bush, Bolton knew full well the protocols for handling classified materials and who was cleared to receive them, Hayes said. “He also knew the damage to national security that could be caused by mishandling that sensitive information,” Hayes added. “Nevertheless, as Mr. Bolton just admitted, he put our national security at grave risk in violation of the law.”

    The roots of the legal case stretch back to the release of Bolton’s tell-all memoir, *The Room Where It Happened*, which hit bookshelves in 2020. The book offered a scathing insider portrait of Trump’s tenure in the White House, depicting the then-president as deeply uninformed on key global geopolitical issues. The Trump White House immediately moved to block publication, filing a lawsuit that argued the manuscript contained classified information that had never gone through mandatory pre-publication review. A federal judge rejected the White House’s injunction request, and the book was released to the public just days later.

    The U.S. Department of Justice launched a formal investigation into Bolton’s handling of classified materials shortly after the book’s publication, probing whether he improperly disclosed sensitive information in his memoir. Beyond the book-related counts, prosecutors also accused Bolton of transmitting classified materials from his time as national security adviser to two of his relatives. In a previously undisclosed detail included in the indictment, investigators found that a hacker once gained access to an online account where Bolton stored the classified documents, and issued a threat to unleash what would be “the biggest scandal since Hillary [Clinton]’s emails were leaked.”

    In the years since leaving the White House, Bolton has remained one of the most vocal Republican critics of Trump, who is now the 2024 Republican presumptive presidential nominee. Trump has repeatedly hit back at Bolton, publicly calling for him to be jailed and labeling the former adviser a “sleazebag.”

    Bolton’s indictment comes as part of a string of high-profile criminal cases targeting prominent Trump critics, including former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. However, legal experts and former federal prosecutors told the BBC that Bolton’s case is distinct from other political prosecutions due to the overwhelming weight of evidence gathered by investigators. A source familiar with the plea deal explained that Bolton chose to plead guilty in part because he recognized a continued trial would require the release of additional classified information as part of his defense, a step he refused to take to avoid further harm to U.S. national security. “The ambassador has admitted to what he has done,” the source said.

    Carrie Cordero, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, noted that while bringing charges against such a high-ranking former official for classified material mishandling is rare, it is not without precedent. “Cases that involve classified information present challenges to prosecute, but they can and are brought against both low-level and high-level officials, from time to time,” Cordero explained. Earlier this year, in January, Bolton was among a group of high-profile former Trump administration critics who had their lifetime Secret Service protection stripped by the Trump-aligned House of Representatives.

  • The woman leading Cameroonian cricket’s ‘Roger Milla’ generation

    The woman leading Cameroonian cricket’s ‘Roger Milla’ generation

    When 29-year-old Madeleine Nseke Sissako first stepped onto an informal cricket pitch in Yaounde at the age of nine, she and her young teammates faced widespread ridicule. Neighbors, unfamiliar with the sport, mocked the group for carrying the cricket bats they called sticks, drawing an unlikely comparison to the pop-culture Ninja Turtles. Few locals believed the little-known sport could ever take root in the Central African country, where the word ‘cricket’ is most often associated with the common insect rather than a global team sport.

    Against that backdrop of skepticism, Nseke Sissako has emerged as one of Cameroon’s most accomplished and ambitious professional cricketers, leading a quiet revolution to grow the sport from its humble grassroots origins. Cricket runs deep in her family: eight members of the Nseke clan have represented Cameroon at the senior or youth international level, and it was her older brother Abanda Protais who first convinced the reluctant youngster to give the sport a chance. ‘I grew up always by his side, going with him to every practice,’ Nseke Sissako recalls. ‘At first, I had no real love for the game, but he talked me into it and taught me all the fundamentals.’

    Today, Nseke Sissako wears two pivotal hats: she serves as both captain and head coach of the Yaounde-based Emergence Ladies Cricket Club, which she has led to multiple domestic titles, and has represented Cameroon’s senior women’s national team, the Cricket Lionesses, since 2021. Ranked 67th out of 79 global sides in the ICC Women’s T20 rankings, Cameroon’s national program has marked steady progress in recent years, notching wins over Lesotho, Eswatini and Mozambique in 2024. ‘We’ve come so far,’ Nseke Sissako says. ‘When we first started competing internationally, we were the obvious underdogs, always the weakest team. Back then, we mostly traveled just for the experience, to get photos, and see new places. That’s changed now.’

    Her father, Eugene Nseke Toube, a former professional footballer, has supported his daughter’s work in cricket but keeps her grounded. ‘I always tell her she still has a lot to learn, and she has to keep putting in the work if she wants to reach her goals,’ he explains. ‘We encourage her to keep pushing, but where she is now isn’t the finish line.’

    Cricket’s journey in Cameroon began only in 2003, when a development project spearheaded by Victor Agbor-Nso — now president of Cameroon’s national cricket governing body Fecacricket — introduced the sport to the country. ‘We started from absolutely nothing,’ Agbor-Nso says. ‘No one knew what cricket was. It was just a joke, a laughing stock.’ The sport grew steadily enough for Fecacricket to earn affiliate membership with the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2007, and the federation officially recognized by Cameroon’s ministry of sports two years prior, in 2005.

    Agbor-Nso credits the Nseke family, which received a special award from Fecacricket in 2024 for their contributions, with transforming the sport’s profile in the country. ‘The Nsekes have been absolutely critical to turning our dream for Cameroonian cricket into reality — starting from scratch to building a respected sport that people can look up to,’ he says. Today, the country counts 22 registered clubs (12 men’s, 10 women’s) with more than 550 top-level registered players, and Agbor-Nso estimates that roughly 70,000 Cameroonians across the country are learning the sport, mostly through school-based outreach programs.

    Still, major barriers remain. A lack of specialized cricket infrastructure and equipment is one of the biggest hurdles; Cameroon currently has no international-standard cricket venue. ‘If we had a proper stadium with the right playing surface, Cameroon could compete with the best in the world,’ Nseke Sissako says. Fecacricket also faces persistent funding shortfalls: the body only raises roughly a third of its annual budget target, even with support from the ICC and the Cameroonian government, slowing the federation’s progress. ‘We have huge ambitions, but the resources we have right now are nowhere near enough,’ Agbor-Nso explains. ‘We’re working to attract new sponsors to come and support our growth.’

    In recent years, Fecacricket has prioritized expanding women’s cricket, shifting from allocating just 20% of its resources to the women’s game to working toward a 50-50 split between men’s and women’s programming. Agbor-Nso points to Nseke Sissako as the perfect role model for this new era. Beyond leading her domestic club, she also served as head coach of Cameroon’s Under-19 women’s national team during recent qualifiers for the 2026 Women’s Under-19 T20 World Cup, working to inspire the next generation of female players. ‘All we can do now is keep working and believe in ourselves,’ Nseke Sissako says. ‘We need to boost the sport’s visibility, and keep planting the seed in schools through targeted development programs.’

    As the 2026 Women’s T20 World Cup unfolds across England, Wales and South Africa, Nseke Sissako is rooting for the tournament’s only African competitor — the two-time defending runners-up South Africa, who remain the only African nation to ever qualify for the tournament. ‘I will always support South Africa, because it’s because of their success that the rest of the world is paying more attention to African cricket,’ she says. ‘A South African win would give a huge boost to the sport across the whole region, including here in Cameroon.’ Drawing inspiration from Cameroonian football icon Roger Milla, who broke barriers for African football on the global stage, Nseke Sissako says she and her teammates see themselves as the trailblazers of Cameroonian cricket — and she holds an unshakable ambition to turn Cameroon into ‘one of the biggest cricket-playing nations in Africa and the world.’

  • Tallest building in Beijing is damaged after small airplane reportedly crashed into it

    Tallest building in Beijing is damaged after small airplane reportedly crashed into it

    On Friday, visual evidence posted to social media platforms sparked widespread concern after it suggested that debris from a small aircraft was found near CITIC Tower, Beijing’s tallest skyscraper, showing visible signs of exterior damage to the building.

    While the geolocation metadata and visual context of the shared photos and clips aligned with the iconic 528-meter structure’s location in Beijing’s Central Business District, independent third-party verification of the content’s authenticity has not been possible. The user-uploaded materials were also swiftly taken down from Chinese internet platforms shortly after being posted, limiting public access to the original imagery.

    Hong Kong-based English-language outlet South China Morning Post was the first major media outlet to publish a report claiming that the small aircraft had collided directly with the tower, which is commonly known by its local name China Zun. Published photos accompanying the early report showed what observers identified as a broken section of glass or a punctured hole on one of the skyscraper’s facades.

    Multiple witness accounts confirmed a large-scale emergency response at the scene: significant numbers of law enforcement officers, fire trucks, and ambulances were deployed to the area outside the supertall building, blocking off nearby access points as first responders assessed the situation.

    As of the latest updates, no official public statement has been released by Chinese national or municipal authorities regarding the nature, cause, or casualty toll of the incident. Investigations into what exactly occurred near the iconic Central Business District landmark are still ongoing, with no official confirmation of a crash available to the public.

  • Canada eligible to join Eurovision competition

    Canada eligible to join Eurovision competition

    The world’s biggest live music competition, the Eurovision Song Contest, is opening its doors to a new North American contender: Canada. This historic change comes after the country’s national public broadcaster, CBC/Radio-Canada, secured full membership status in the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) – the non-negotiable requirement for any nation that wants to compete in the iconic annual contest.

    The shift follows months of coordinated work between the Canadian government and the public broadcaster, dating back to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s 2025 national budget. Since taking office last year, Carney has prioritized deepening political and economic connections between Canada and European nations, and adding Eurovision participation was framed as a key cultural pillar of that outreach strategy. By November, the Carney administration confirmed it was collaborating with CBC to explore the logistics of entering the competition, and the 2025 budget allocated C$150 million (£80 million) to the public broadcaster to support this and other cultural initiatives.

    While Canada will be the latest non-European nation to join the contest’s lineup, it is far from the first. Israel and Australia have been regular competitors for years, and Morocco made a single appearance in the 1980 contest. EBU Director General Noel Curran welcomed the change, noting that adding Canada’s unique cultural voice to the Eurovision community strengthens the entire event.

    Interestingly, Canadian talent has already left an indelible mark on Eurovision history decades before the nation gained formal eligibility. In 1988, Quebec-born global superstar Céline Dion claimed the contest’s top prize when she competed on behalf of Switzerland. That unexpected victory became the launching pad for Dion’s decades-long, record-breaking career that has made her one of the best-selling artists of all time. Other Canadian artists have followed in her footsteps, representing competing European nations: Acadian singer Natasha St-Pier from New Brunswick represented France in 2001, and Montreal-born performer La Zarra represented France at the 2023 contest.

    With full membership now confirmed, Canada is on track to field its first official national entry when the next Eurovision Song Contest kicks off next year, marking one of the most significant changes to the competition’s participation rules in recent memory.

  • Sergei Ivanov, Russia’s ex-defense minister once seen as Putin’s likely successor, has died at 73

    Sergei Ivanov, Russia’s ex-defense minister once seen as Putin’s likely successor, has died at 73

    In a formal announcement from the Kremlin, Russia has confirmed the passing of Sergei Ivanov, a towering figure in domestic politics and one-time close confidant of President Vladimir Putin, at the age of 73.

    The statement released Friday confirmed Ivanov’s death but offered no further details regarding the cause of his passing, and Putin has since delivered official condolences to Ivanov’s surviving family.

    A fellow veteran of the Soviet-era KGB, like Putin himself, Ivanov rose to national prominence in 2001 when he was appointed to the role of defense minister by Putin. He held that cabinet post through 2007, a period that included his oversight of the Second Chechen War, the brutal conflict that ultimately defeated separatist efforts to break the region away from Russian control.

    The highest point of public speculation around Ivanov’s political career came in 2008, when Putin faced mandatory constitutional term limits that barred him from seeking re-election immediately, leading the incumbent president to move into the role of prime minister instead. At that time, political observers across Russia and the international community widely tipped Ivanov as Putin’s chosen successor to the presidency. In a surprise turn, however, Putin selected another long-time ally, Dmitry Medvedev, to fill the role as a temporary placeholder before Putin reclaimed the presidency in 2012. Many independent analysts have since argued that Putin passed over Ivanov due to concerns over the former defense minister’s open ambition, with fears that Ivanov would seek to hold onto the presidency rather than step aside for Putin’s return.

    Despite being passed over for the top job, Ivanov remained a core member of Putin’s ruling circle for years after the 2008 decision. He served as deputy prime minister from 2007 to 2011, before moving into the influential post of Kremlin chief of staff, a position he held from 2011 to 2016.

    In 2016, Ivanov was reassigned to the role of presidential envoy for environmental protection and transport, a post widely regarded as a ceremonial honorary retirement that carried little actual political influence. He stepped down from that position earlier in 2024.

    Like many senior Russian officials, Ivanov was targeted with coordinated economic and travel sanctions by the United States and the European Union following the launch of Moscow’s full-scale military operation in Ukraine in 2022.

  • The scars of war among survivors in Sudan

    The scars of war among survivors in Sudan

    It has now been three years since full-scale conflict erupted across Sudan, a brutal war that has left the nation in ruins and indelibly scarred the bodies, minds and futures of millions of civilians who have lived through its devastation. Tens of thousands have been killed, and more than half of the country’s population has been displaced by ongoing fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces, which retook control of the capital Khartoum last year, and the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which continues to clash with government troops across large swathes of the country.

    Associated Press journalists spent more than a week reporting in Khartoum and its surrounding areas to document the human cost of the conflict, accompanying military media representatives on the ground while retaining full editorial control over all reporting. Through conversations with five survivors of the war, the true scale of the civilian crisis that has unfolded across Sudan comes into sharp focus.

    For 33-year-old Omer al-Toum, a lifelong dream of representing Sudan’s national soccer team was destroyed in an instant. Last October, an unexploded ordnance detonated in his home as he attempted to use it to loosen a nail. The blast tore off part of his right leg and left arm, and left his other leg shattered beyond repair. Even with his life permanently altered, al-Toum has chosen to meet his new reality with quiet resolve. He hides the depth of his grief from his family, and finds purpose in coaching young local soccer players, urging them to stay in school and build alternative futures. “As long as you are still breathing, you are still capable of doing many things. And when God takes something away from you, he will surely compensate you with other things,” he said. Though he cannot bathe or get out of bed unassisted, and his wheelchair cannot fit through many of his home’s doorways, al-Toum says his 8-month-old daughter keeps him going. Accessing a high-quality prosthetic to regain greater mobility would require travel abroad, a cost and risk he cannot currently take.

    For 16-year-old Noon Madani, the war stole her sister and nearly stole her ability to walk. Nearly three years ago, in August 2022, Madani did not want to leave her family’s home in a neighborhood outside Khartoum controlled by the RSF. But her 18-year-old older sister insisted they leave to pay an overdue household bill. On their journey home, a missile struck, killing Madani’s sister instantly and crushing both of her legs. Trapped and immobile beside her dying sister, Madani says she still vividly remembers seeing fragments of the missile embedded in her sister’s skull. She spent six months recovering in a local hospital, undergoing multiple surgeries, fighting life-threatening infections, and often waiting days for care after most medical staff fled the region. Today, she still uses a wheelchair while her legs heal, and doctors say she will likely walk again. Every day, her younger brothers wheel her to school, where she studies science with the dream of one day becoming a doctor. “We are trying to forget the war,” her father Omer Bakar said, “the nightmare we finally woke up from.”

    Fatma Ageb, 38, lost nearly her entire family in a single 2025 shelling attack on her Khartoum home. She remembers only one moment from that day in February: her two older daughters, aged 10 and 12, laughing as they planned what birthday gift to buy their baby sister Zeinab. The shell killed her husband and her two older daughters instantly. Shrapnel tore through Ageb’s body, and left her 8-year-old Zeinab severely wounded: the blast scarred half her face and took her right eye, which she now replaces with a prosthetic glass eye. “If it wasn’t for Zeinab I wouldn’t want to live. She’s always calling for her sisters and father,” Ageb said, wiping away tears as her daughter, wearing a Frozen character necklace, held up a shy drawing for reporters while a doctor treated her lingering wounds. Friends and relatives have pooled what money they could to cover Zeinab’s ongoing surgeries, but more funds are needed, and Ageb has no way to pay for the care her daughter requires.

    Even aid workers who spent years supporting their communities have not escaped the war’s harm. Tariq Abuzeid, a 52-year-old construction worker, had long run volunteer soup kitchens out of his Khartoum home, raising funds to feed hungry neighbors and distribute life-saving medicine to the sick. When the war reached the capital, he never stopped his work delivering aid to trapped civilians. In December 2023, he was caught in intense shelling just after distributing food to a neighborhood. The blast cost him his right leg. Now, surrounded by his family, Abuzeid struggles to accept his new reality. “I used to serve people. … Now I feel like I am a burden,” he said, his voice breaking. The blast caused severe bleeding that damaged his immune system, and he takes dozens of pills every day just to manage constant pain. Accessing a properly fitted prosthetic and a sturdy wheelchair remains nearly impossible in war-torn Khartoum. Even so, he has not quit his volunteer work: large metal cooking bowls still stack in his yard as he prepares the next meal for his hungry neighbors.

    For a 50-year-old mother who fled the besieged town of Dilling in South Kordofan with her two adult daughters last July, the war brought unfathomable sexual violence, a horror the United Nations has called one of the defining characteristics of the Sudan conflict. Driven from their home by extreme hunger, the family was abducted by RSF fighters while fleeing. Bound hand and foot with their faces covered, they were driven for hours to a makeshift desert base where more than a dozen other women were being held. For months, the woman was regularly beaten and gang-raped until she was badly injured. Every night, she would cringe in fear as fighters walked through the holding area, picking which women they would take. When fighters came for her daughters, aged 20 and 25, she begged them to take her instead. One night, when the base was nearly empty, she managed to escape into the desert with her daughters. Terrified, starving and weak, they walked for days before finding safety in a neighboring town. The RSF has not responded to requests for comment on the allegations. Now staying at a women’s support center in Khartoum, the woman says doctors have told her the injuries from her assault are so severe she will need a hysterectomy. In a country torn apart by war, even this life-saving care remains out of reach.

    This reporting is part of AP’s Africa Pulse coverage, supported by funding from the Gates Foundation, with the AP retaining full editorial independence over all content.

  • The US that World Cup fans didn’t expect to love

    The US that World Cup fans didn’t expect to love

    In the weeks leading up to the 2026 FIFA World Cup this summer, nearly all global attention centered on the 16 host cities and their state-of-the-art stadiums where the world’s top football teams would compete. But just two weeks into the tournament, an unexpected and heartwarming trend has taken over social media: thousands of feel-good videos from international fans exploring the lesser-known, everyday parts of the United States that lie between the gleaming coastal skylines.

    For many foreign visitors, these off-the-beaten-path discoveries have become the highlight of their trip. A Norwegian visitor gasped in shock stepping into the sprawling outdoor retailer Bass Pro Shops. A British traveller could only describe Texas’ iconic Buc-ee’s – a one-stop destination combining a convenience store, full-service restaurant, gas station, and grocery superstore – as “absolutely insane”. Fans have posted gushing reactions to everything from the massive bulk sections of Costco and Walmart to the ubiquitous, creamy ranch dressing that has become an unexpected viral obsession. These moments are shining a light on a version of America rarely seen in international film or television: a quirky, unscripted, ordinary side of the country that has nothing to do with partisan politics and that most first-time visitors never get a chance to see. For Americans watching these reactions from home, the videos have become a gentle reminder of the small, unique joys that make the country special, rekindling a love for their own homeland that many had let fade.

    Spanning roughly 2,800 miles from coast to coast, with World Cup matches hosted in cities across both the Atlantic and Pacific shores, many international fans have opted to skip constant cross-country flights and embrace the classic American tradition of the open road. Road-tripping between matches has let them stumble upon kitschy nostalgic roadside attractions along historic Route 66, and experience the unrivaled grandeur of the U.S. National Park System. Videos of fans standing awestruck beneath the golden sandstone arches of Utah’s Zion National Park, gazing out over the layered red rock expanse of the Grand Canyon, and exploring the misty, cypress-draped lowland swamps of Louisiana have served as a reminder of the country’s staggering natural diversity. One British visitor who explored Zion put it simply: “I don’t think people realise how big, large, wild, full of wildlife America is. There is nothing quite like American national parks and state parks. It’s just incredible.”

    Intrigued by how deeply these fan reactions resonated with me as an American, I reached out to Charlotte Russell, a clinical psychologist and founder of The Travel Psychologist, to unpack why these simple videos feel so moving. Russell explained that for people who live in a place full-time, it is easy to take everyday cultural landmarks and natural beauty for granted. “Just like we don’t notice our wallpaper at home, we don’t spend much time thinking about our own culture in our day-to-day lives; it’s normal to us,” she said.

    Beyond natural landscapes, road-tripping fans have also fallen for the country’s diverse, unassuming regional cuisine – far beyond the global McDonald’s franchises most associate with American food overseas. Visitors are lining up at iconic Southern institutions like Waffle House, obsessing over crispy tater tots, and indulging in the classic American pastime of filling up on gas station snacks, from Buc-ee’s famous Beaver Nuggets to regional barbecue specialties. One Scottish traveller who spent his trip sampling everything from Dunkin’ Donuts to Atlanta seafood boils broke down in tears eating his last buttery, syrup-soaked waffle on the drive to the airport before his flight home. Two British football podcasters from *The England Pod* who detoured through Kansas City were so blown away by the city’s signature smoked ribs and brisket that they are already planning a follow-up trip to Dallas to test Texas-style barbecue, even as they admit: “It’s tough to imagine anything beating this.” The obsession with ranch dressing has gotten so out of hand that airport authorities have issued public warnings about legal carry-on limits after countless fans tried to smuggle large bottles of the dressing home in their checked luggage.

    Beyond viral clips of fans marveling at American food and scenery, the videos have also highlighted a quiet, powerful side of American generosity. Social media comment sections are flooded with local residents recommending hidden gems off the typical tourist trail, and even offering homemade meals to passing fans. That warmth feels particularly meaningful at a time when the U.S. has faced widespread international criticism for strict travel bans, tighter entry restrictions, and high visa rejection rates for citizens of many participating World Cup nations. For every video of a fan falling in love with American culture, there is a matching story of Americans opening their homes and communities to visitors. One traveller reported that Houston transit workers handed out free cold drinks to overheated fans heading to matches, while police officers across the country have been filmed cheering on and hyping up international supporters.

    Few communities have embodied this welcoming spirit more fully than the small college town of Lawrence, Kansas, which was chosen as the training base for the Algerian national team. The city’s 96,000 residents pulled out all the stops to welcome the team: the local university marching band learned to play the Algerian national anthem, community artists created a massive custom Algerian flag, and local pub staff studied basic Arabic phrases to greet guests. When the team arrived late at night, hundreds of local residents – many with no personal connection to Algeria – waited in total darkness to greet them, with one local telling the team: “Thank you for choosing our hometown.”

    These stories of unexpected cross-cultural connection have left many Americans feeling emotional during this tournament, and it is not hard to see why. As Russell notes, many U.S. citizens have felt discouraged about their country in recent years, and troubled by the negative global perception of the United States heading into the World Cup. “With all the negative news in the run-up to the World Cup… seeing people actually enjoying the US and its people feels more intensely joyful,” she explained. After scrolling through weeks of these warm, unscripted social media posts, I have felt a swell of national pride that I have not experienced in many years.

    Soon, this summer-long tournament will draw to a close: a new World Cup champion will be crowned, and fans will return home, most a few pounds heavier from all the ranch dressing and barbecue. But the hope this trend has sparked lingers – that Americans will continue to find joy in the quiet quirkiness of their own culture, take pride in the wild natural beauty that stretches across the country, and keep our doors open to visitors, so that more people can see the real America that we know and love.

  • US sanctions Rwanda gold refinery accused of smuggling DR Congo’s minerals

    US sanctions Rwanda gold refinery accused of smuggling DR Congo’s minerals

    In a significant step targeting what it calls illicit cross-border mineral trade tied to armed unrest, the United States has announced sweeping sanctions against Rwanda’s leading gold processing facility, Gasabo Gold Refinery, alongside two of its top executives. The action, unveiled Thursday, stems from long-running accusations that the Rwandan-linked network is collaborating with the M23 rebel movement that controls large mineral-rich territories in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

    Washington claims the network moving illicit minerals to Gasabo works in tandem with M23, which holds swathes of eastern DRC home to massive deposits of gold and coltan — a critical raw material for consumer and industrial electronics manufacturing. The US Treasury’s allegation further claims that Rwandan government officials and military personnel directly oversee this smuggling operation, with at least 60 kilograms of gold worth millions of US dollars illegally trafficked from eastern DRC to Gasabo Gold Refinery in the first months of 2026.

    Rwanda has consistently rejected international claims that it provides military and logistical support to M23, even as multiple independent investigations from United Nations experts and other bodies have produced substantial evidence to the contrary. While the Rwandan government has not yet issued an official response to the latest US sanctions, it has previously characterized similar punitive measures as unfair, one-sided actions targeting the country. Three additional mining firms controlled by Gasabo chairman Jean Malic Kalima — Bugambira Mines, Wolfram Mining and Processing, and Rwinkwavu Mining Corporation — were also added to the US sanctions list alongside the refinery, Kalima himself, and chief executive Bosco Kayobotsi.

    This is not the first international action against Gasabo Gold Refinery: the European Union already blacklisted the facility last year over accusations it profits from the armed conflict in eastern DRC. None of the parties sanctioned this week have responded to requests for comment from the BBC. Under the terms of the new US sanctions, any assets held by the designated entities and individuals within US jurisdiction will be immediately frozen, and all commercial transactions between American citizens or companies and the sanctioned parties are prohibited.

    “The United States will not allow rogue groups to profit from the illicit mineral trade and destabilise the region,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an official statement announcing the measures. “The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s mineral wealth rightfully belongs to the Congolese people.”

    The sanctions come against the backdrop of a December 2024 peace deal brokered by the US between the presidents of Rwanda and the DRC. That agreement was designed to end decades of persistent armed conflict in eastern DRC and build a more transparent, accountable regional mineral sector. Many industry and policy analysts believe the Trump administration also sees enhanced regional stability as a pathway to increasing American investment in the DRC’s vast critical mineral reserves, which are central to global supply chains for clean energy technology and electronics.

    Despite the signing of the high-profile peace deal, large-scale fighting has continued across eastern DRC. Just one day before the sanctions were announced, senior officials from Rwanda, the DRC, and the US held a follow-up summit to review implementation of the agreement, and issued a joint statement acknowledging “serious concern over the escalating fighting” in the region.