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  • Morocco captain Hakimi to stand trial for rape

    Morocco captain Hakimi to stand trial for rape

    French prosecutors have officially confirmed that Paris Saint-Germain and Morocco national team captain Achraf Hakimi will face trial on rape charges, a development that has thrown the 27-year-old fullback’s 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign into uncertainty ahead of his side’s second group stage fixture against Scotland this Friday.

    The allegations date back to 2023, when a 24-year-old woman accused the star defender of assaulting her at Hakimi’s private residence in Paris. Authorities in Nanterre, the western Paris suburb overseeing the case, launched an initial preliminary investigation in March 2023. After more than three years of procedural review, an investigating judge ordered the case proceed to trial in February 2026. Multiple French media outlets have reported that Hakimi’s recent appeal to have the charges dismissed was rejected.

    Hakimi has vehemently denied all allegations against him from the beginning, and broke his years-long public silence on the case in a social media post published Friday. “The justice system looked me in the eye and said, ‘If you weren’t famous, there would never have been a case,’” he wrote.

    The World Cup star explained that he chose to stay out of public discourse for years out of a commitment to preserving his dignity and confidence in France’s judicial process. “Today, a story that isn’t mine is being told at the expense of my family, my life, and above all, the truth. I sometimes feel like I’ve become an easy target,” Hakimi added. “I’ve been waiting for this trial since day one. And now I’m eagerly awaiting it. Finally, I’ll be able to speak.”

    Rachel-Flore Pardo, the legal representative for the accuser, said the judge’s ruling to proceed to trial brings her client both relief and hope, after more than three years of navigating the legal process. Pardo noted that her client believes she has been defamed and publicly maligned by Hakimi’s defense team. “Relief that she has been heard by the justice system and will have the right to a trial,” Pardo said. “Hope that this trial will help other women and further weaken the wall of denial and impunity surrounding sexual violence, including in the world of men’s football.”

    As of this reporting, no official start date has been scheduled for the trial. All three of Morocco’s group stage matches at the 2026 co-hosted World Cup are set to take place in the United States, where the Moroccan squad is currently based, leaving Hakimi able to play for the time being. However, if Morocco advances to the knockout round, the team could be forced to play matches in co-host nations Canada or Mexico, where Hakimi may face entry restrictions.

    This scenario is not unprecedented at this tournament: last week, Ghana midfielder Thomas Partey was denied entry to Canada and forced to miss his country’s opening group stage match against Panama. Partey, 32, has pleaded not guilty to seven rape charges and one count of sexual assault leveled by four separate accuser for alleged incidents between 2020 and 2022, and he is scheduled to go to trial in 2027. Canadian immigration rules explicitly allow officials to deny entry to any person who has been alleged or convicted of a criminal offense.

    The 2026 FIFA World Cup splits matches across all three North American co-hosts through the quarter-final round, after which all remaining fixtures will be hosted exclusively in the United States.

    One of the most decorated active African footballers, Hakimi made his senior international debut for Morocco in 2016 at just 17 years old, and has since earned 97 caps for his country. He was a foundational player for the 2022 Moroccan World Cup squad that made history as the first African nation to reach the tournament’s semi-final. Since transferring from Inter Milan to Paris Saint-Germain in 2021, Hakimi has won 13 club trophies, including consecutive UEFA Champions League titles in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons.

  • Boy, 12, wins hearts after trying to check sick chicken into Ethiopian hospital

    Boy, 12, wins hearts after trying to check sick chicken into Ethiopian hospital

    For 12-year-old Markos Abaye, a displaced child growing up in rural Ethiopia, one small feathered companion has become his whole world. So when his beloved pet chicken fell ill earlier this month, unresponsive to every home remedy his young mind could devise, he did what felt like the only logical step: he laced up his shoes, tucked the ailing bird close to his chest, and rushed her straight to the nearest local hospital.

    Markos’ desperate act of kindness has since captured global attention after a nurse on duty at Denbecha Primary Hospital, located in Ethiopia’s Amhara region, filmed the unlikely patient and her worried young owner and shared the clip on TikTok. To date, the video has amassed more than 770,000 views, leaving thousands of viewers across Ethiopia and beyond moved by the preteen’s profound compassion for his animal companion.

    In the viral footage, Markos can be seen cradling the sick hen tightly, his face etched with worry as he explains to the nurse, “She is wheezing.” Nurse Umer Chane, who recorded the interaction, gently responded: “Listen, there are doctors who treat animals. You have to take her there. This is a hospital for humans. Okay, dear?”

    What many viewers do not know from the 15-second viral clip is the deeper backstory that binds Markos to this chicken. Markos moved in with his uncle and guardian Kelemework Amogne in August 2023, when violent conflict broke out between the Ethiopian national army and local Fano militias in Amhara. Fearing for the boy’s safety, his grandparents sent him away to live with his uncle, and gave him the chicken as a cherished parting gift.

    Since then, Markos has formed an unbreakable bond with the hen. His uncle shared that the boy watches the bird’s every move, even mapping her footpaths and building tiny earthen bridges over small holes in the ground to keep her from falling. When the chicken fell ill, Markos was so distraught that he stopped eating and attending to his schoolwork. Kelemework had suggested the boy seek out professional help for the hen, but Markos had no idea that specialized veterinary clinics existed in his town of Denbecha – to him, a hospital was simply a place where any sick living thing could get care.

    Even as onlookers in the hospital teased the boy for bringing a chicken to a human medical facility, Umer the nurse said he could see nothing but pure, earnest kindness in Markos’ face. “He hugged the chicken tightly, worried about her condition, even as others tried to make fun of him,” Umer told the BBC. Struck by the moment, Umer posted the video to TikTok, never expecting it to blow up across the country.

    When Markos returned home after his hospital trip, he only told his uncle that people had laughed at him. It was not until days later, when the family stumbled on the viral video online, that they realized the boy’s act of love had captured national attention. “He thought of a hospital as one that could treat both people and animals,” Kelemework explained, adding that he has been stunned by the outpouring of support for his nephew. “It seemed like a dream!”

    Thankfully, Markos’ beloved chicken has already made a full recovery. The 12-year-old told reporters he is now planning to let the hen hatch the 12 eggs he has saved up for her.

    Following the viral spread of Markos’ story, a local Ethiopian poultry company has stepped forward to honor his love of animals: the firm announced it will donate 100 chickens to Markos, as well as provide him with formal training in poultry farming to help him turn his passion into a skill for the future.

  • Dragon Boat Festival links modern China to traditions more than 2,000 years old

    Dragon Boat Festival links modern China to traditions more than 2,000 years old

    Across mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, millions of people gathered Friday to mark the annual Dragon Boat Festival, a millennia-old cultural celebration that blends historic legend, ancient philosophical beliefs, and lively communal competition. What began more than 2,000 years ago as a festival tied to summer solstice rhythms and traditional concepts of health and cosmic balance has grown into one of China’s most vibrant and widely observed cultural holidays, centered on its iconic signature event: competitive dragon boat racing.

    Unlike many modern holidays that have shed much of their original cultural context, the Dragon Boat Festival retains deep roots in Chinese history and folk tradition. Historians note the celebration’s origins stretch back to ancient beliefs surrounding the summer solstice, when shifting seasonal energy created imbalance between yin and yang. Communities developed rituals aimed at restoring harmony, protecting public health, and aligning human activity with the natural world.

    “Of all traditional Chinese festivals, the Dragon Boat Festival stands out as the richest and most diverse in its customs,” explained Liu Xiaofeng, a history professor at Tsinghua University. “Across China’s different regions, local communities built out a wide range of unique traditions, all rooted in core ideas connected to the summer solstice and balancing yin and yang energies.”

    For most around the world, the festival is most closely linked to the legendary story of Qu Yuan, an ancient Chinese poet and scholar who, according to centuries-old lore, drowned himself in a river over political injustice more than 2,000 years ago. Out of respect and grief, local residents rushed out onto the water in long boats to search for his body, and threw packets of rice into the river to prevent fish from feeding on his remains. These acts of mourning eventually evolved into the two most iconic Dragon Boat traditions: dragon boat racing and zongzi, the savory sticky rice dumplings still enjoyed by families across the country today.

    This year’s celebrations kicked off with a three-day competitive racing event hosted in Beijing, running through June 21 along the capital’s historic Grand Canal. The tournament features separate men’s, women’s, and mixed-team divisions, with races contested over 100-meter, 200-meter, and 500-meter courses. Dozens of teams from five regions across China — including Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, and Guangdong — have traveled to the capital to compete over the holiday weekend.

    On the opening day of the competition, rowers kept perfectly synchronized strokes to the thunderous rhythm of on-board drummers, each long, colorful dragon boat surging forward through the water as crowds of spectators along the banks cheered for their favorite teams. For those who could not attend in person, many gathered at home with family, eating zongzi and watching broadcast coverage of the races.

    “The competition didn’t just help our team build stronger teamwork and spirit,” said Li Maoshan, a competitor who took part in Friday’s opening races. “It also gave all of us a chance to show the values of perseverance and dedication that this tradition has carried for centuries.”

    In Hong Kong, Friday’s races added an extra touch of playful creativity, with some competitors dressing in themed costumes, including a playful cartoon iteration of Ne Zha, a beloved deity from Chinese Taoist tradition.

    This report included contributions from AP video producer Liu Zheng in Beijing and AP reporter Kanis Leung in Hong Kong. Associated Press religion and cultural coverage receives support through a collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The Associated Press is solely responsible for all content in this report.

  • Billionaire Ambani’s Jio announces what could be India’s biggest share sale

    Billionaire Ambani’s Jio announces what could be India’s biggest share sale

    One of India’s most transformative technology and telecom ventures is finally set to hit public markets, in a move that analysts are hailing as one of the most significant initial public offerings in the nation’s modern history. Jio Platforms, the digital telecommunications subsidiary of Reliance Industries helmed by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani — ranked among the world’s wealthiest people with an estimated net worth of $90.6 billion by Forbes — has received board approval for its IPO draft prospectus. Ambani made the official announcement during Reliance’s annual general shareholder meeting held Friday.

    As India’s largest mobile network operator, Jio currently boasts a user base of more than 500 million subscribers across the country. Multiple media reports project the offering will raise approximately $4 billion, making it one of the biggest share sales India has seen in recent years. The listing is being closely watched by global and domestic investors alike, as it will serve as a key barometer of market appetite for new offerings after months of heightened volatility in India’s equity markets.

    In his address to shareholders, Ambani framed the IPO as a watershed moment for India’s technology ecosystem, stating: “The proposed listing of Jio will demonstrate to the world that India can build technology companies of global scale, global capability, and global value.”

    Since its launch in 2016, Jio has reshaped India’s digital landscape. The firm upended the country’s stagnant telecom sector by introducing ultra-low-cost mobile data plans, attracting hundreds of millions of subscribers in just a few years and pushing outdated, high-priced competitors out of the market. In the years following its disruptive entry, Jio has expanded its footprint far beyond consumer mobile services, branching into fast-growing new verticals including cloud computing, enterprise digital solutions, and artificial intelligence.

    Just last year, Jio solidified its global partnerships by signing a deal with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to bring the company’s low-orbit Starlink satellite internet service to India, matching a similar agreement struck by rival Bharti Airtel. The upcoming IPO marks the end of a year-long planning process for the public listing; Ambani first announced plans for Jio to go public by the first half of 2025, pushing the launch to 2026 to align with market conditions.

    The Jio announcement comes just 24 hours after India’s National Stock Exchange (NSE) filed its own draft prospectus for its long-awaited IPO, creating a wave of momentum for India’s slowing IPO market. Media estimates project the NSE offering will raise more than $3 billion. Combined, the two back-to-back listings would rank among the largest IPOs in India in the last five years, matching the size of Hyundai Motor India’s $3.3 billion blockbuster offering two years ago.

    Market analysts and investors are particularly focused on Jio’s IPO as a potential catalyst for wider market sentiment. India’s new issuance market has seen a marked slowdown in activity over the past 18 months, and a successful, oversubscribed Jio offering is widely expected to revive confidence and encourage other high-quality private firms to pursue public listings.

    Jio’s expansion into AI and digital infrastructure has already attracted major global tech investment. Earlier this month, Meta Platforms announced it would lease capacity at a 168-megawatt AI-optimized data center that Reliance is constructing in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The deal builds on a longstanding partnership between the two firms that began in 2020, when Meta invested $5.7 billion in Jio. Since that initial investment, the two companies have expanded their collaboration to include initiatives that open up Meta’s open-source AI models to millions of Indian businesses and local developers.

    Investment banking firm Jefferies estimated in a November 2025 note that Jio carries an implied valuation of roughly $180 billion, which would position it as one of the most valuable telecommunications companies on the globe. For the Reliance Group, the Jio IPO represents a historic milestone: it is the first major public offering from one of the conglomerate’s core business units since Reliance Petroleum listed on Indian markets in 2006.

  • A Miami art exhibit is celebrating Africa’s soccer legacy throughout the World Cup

    A Miami art exhibit is celebrating Africa’s soccer legacy throughout the World Cup

    MIAMI (AP) — Near the entrance of a new Miami art exhibition, a striking photograph captures Brazilian star Vinícius Júnior mid-goal celebration, one fist raised high in triumph. It hangs adjacent to a vivid acrylic work by Tasanee Durrett, depicting a Black woman heading a soccer ball, her dreadlocks floating mid-air. A glass-cased replica of the FIFA World Cup trophy anchors the nearby display space, encircled by an array of photographs, paintings and national flags that weave together the untold stories of generations of African footballers and their soccer dreams.

    This immersive collection, titled *Art and the Beautiful Game: Africa on the World Stage*, is the work of AfriKin, a foundation dedicated to amplifying African and African diaspora art. Curated by Alfonso D. Brooks, a former longtime sound engineer turned arts organizer, the exhibition opened in Miami in advance of the World Cup, drawing together works from more than 50 creators spanning 25 countries. The show traces soccer’s deep embedded role in African history, while honoring the sport’s most globally influential figures — from the late Brazilian legend Pelé to contemporary French star Kylian Mbappé.

    Every one of the 10 African nations qualifying for the World Cup is highlighted and celebrated in the exhibition, with a special tribute reserved for Cape Verde. The tiny island nation off West Africa pulled off one of the tournament’s most surprising upsets in its World Cup debut, securing a historic draw against European powerhouse Spain. AfriKin is scheduled to host an official honorary ceremony for Cape Verde on Saturday evening, ahead of the team’s group stage match against Uruguay.

    As the World Cup draws tens of thousands of global football fans to Miami, Brooks and participating artists set out to create a welcoming communal space where the African diaspora can gather, connect and celebrate its distinct cultural legacy throughout the tournament. “Miami is a huge melting pot,” explained Durrett, a 31-year-old Orlando-based artist and licensed architect. “We have Latin residents, Haitian communities, Caribbean communities, so many different cultural influences. Now that we have this platform and this voice, why not lift that story up?”

    Brooks, who was born in the Dutch Caribbean territory of St. Maarten and relocated to Miami in 2008, developed his love for soccer from its humble grassroots origins across the African continent. He recalls growing up watching young children kick makeshift soccer balls — or any round object they could find — down school hallways, in living rooms, across uneven concrete streets. “This is where you get the term ‘the beautiful game,’” he said. “Because it required nothing but a beautiful spirit.”

    That joyful simplicity runs through the entire exhibition, which offers intimate glimpses into neighborhood pick-up pitches while also highlighting the sport’s unique global power to unite people across differing backgrounds, races and languages.

    Columbus-based artist Bamazi Talle, a native of the West African nation of Togo, explores this unifying theme through paintings of the calabash — a large, woody gourd that holds deep cultural meaning across many African communities. Beyond its practical uses, from serving meals to being hardened into water-carrying vessels, the calabash stands as a cultural symbol of community connection and hospitality. Talle paints the gourds floating against the backdrop of flags of all competing World Cup nations, drawing a parallel between the fruit’s cross-cultural history and the unifying spirit of the global tournament. “Calabash became one thing that united all of us,” Talle said. “And this cup, this World Cup is, I think, this celebration of all of us coming together.”

    Durrett, whose acrylic work greets visitors at the entrance, uses her art to lift up the underrepresented stories of Black women in soccer. She first took up drawing as a therapeutic practice years ago, and has centered her work on highlighting marginalized communities, often creating full canvas pieces in a single continuous line. “I hope that visitors see the unique stories that we as artists are telling,” she said. “And I hope they see themselves reflected in these stories.”

    The exhibition also highlights what Brooks terms “Hidden Africa” — a section focused on European national teams including France, Belgium and England that field numerous players of African heritage, who were either born or developed their football skills in European countries. Through this framing, Brooks aims to highlight the far-reaching connections of the African diaspora across the entire World Cup field, while opening up conversations around identity, immigration, and the complex factors that shape a player’s choice of which nation to represent internationally.

    “I’m not just showing a football and hanging up pretty pictures or highlights of goals,” Brooks emphasized. “We want to tell a real story that people can walk into, engage with, and leave saying ‘Wow, I didn’t know that.’ People need to learn from this exhibition.”

  • Can Renard revive Tunisia’s World Cup campaign?

    Can Renard revive Tunisia’s World Cup campaign?

    Tunisia has turned to the charismatic French football manager Herve Renard in a urgent push to rescue their 2026 FIFA World Cup hopes, just days after a humiliating opening match defeat forced the Carthage Eagles to make historic coaching change.

    The North African side moved quickly to part ways with former manager Sabri Lamouchi following a lopsided 1-5 loss to Sweden on Monday, making Tunisia the first nation in World Cup history to dismiss a head coach after just one group stage match. In the expanded 48-team tournament format, Tunisia still holds a narrow path to advance out of Group F, but Renard will have zero room for error when he makes his dugout debut against Japan on Sunday.

    At 57, Renard joins an exclusive club of elite managers to lead three different nations at consecutive World Cup finals, following his stints with Morocco in 2018 and Saudi Arabia in 2022. It was in Qatar 2022 where Renard cemented his reputation for giant-killing, masterminding a iconic group stage upset over eventual champions Argentina, despite Argentina and Lionel Messi taking an early lead in the match.

    When approached by the Tunisian Football Federation about the vacancy, Renard did not hesitate to accept the high-stakes role. “It’s a challenge that isn’t easy, but it’s a motivating challenge,” the manager stated following his official appointment on Tuesday.

    Beyond the famous crisp white shirts he wears while pacing the touchline, Renard’s path to top-level international management has been defined by hard-won experience and humble beginnings. Before his rise to global prominence, he balanced early coaching work with overnight cleaning shifts to make ends meet, a chapter of his career he credits with shaping his relentless work ethic.

    “I woke up at 2:30 in the morning, finished around noon and then left at 5pm for training at Draguignan. That was my rhythm of life for eight years,” Renard told BBC Sport Africa in a 2019 interview. While working his cleaning shift, Renard also studied to earn his coaching qualifications, and he says that grueling period gave him a grounded perspective on his career. “It’s the best schooling I could have had. You have to go through some failures and difficult times but it makes you stronger,” he added.

    Renard’s coaching resume is one of the most varied in international football, including stints with club sides across France, England, Vietnam and Algeria, plus leadership roles with six different senior national teams. He remains the only manager in history to claim the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) title with two separate nations: he delivered a fairy-tale 2012 triumph for Zambia against Ivory Coast, then guided the Ivory Coast side to the same trophy just three years later.

    Longtime Zambian sports journalist Nkweto Tembwe describes Renard as a relentless workaholic and master tactician, whose attention to opponent scouting sets him apart from other managers. “He does a lot of reading to make sure he keeps up with the trends that are going on. He [studies] opponents like he’s studying for an exam,” Tembwe told BBC Sport Africa, adding that Renard’s pre-match motivational speeches were the key to Zambia’s unexpected 2012 Afcon run. “If you listen to Herve’s pep talk in the semi-final against Ghana, you realise that Zambia won that match in the dressing room,” Tembwe said. “He described every player there and told the Zambia players what to do [and] especially what not to do. The famous white shirt delivered.”

    While Renard’s African success is unparalleled, his recent career has brought mixed results. He failed to advance past the knockout stages in Afcon tournaments with Morocco, then coached France’s women’s national team to quarter-final finishes at both the 2023 Women’s World Cup and 2024 Olympics. He returned to lead Saudi Arabia in October 2024 and guided the nation to qualification for the 2026 World Cup, but was surprisingly dismissed in April this year, opening the door for Tunisia’s approach.

    Renard has long been the first choice for many African national teams seeking a new manager, but his high salary demands and contract commitments have often blocked potential deals. During the 2023 Afcon hosted by Ivory Coast, the nation attempted to rehire Renard after sacking Jean-Louis Gasset, but the French Football Federation refused to release him from his contract with the French women’s side. A Nigerian football official even described Renard’s financial demands as “practically outrageous” when the Super Eagles attempted to recruit him in late 2024.

    For Tunisia, this appointment marks Renard’s fifth leadership role with an African national side, following his earlier stints with Zambia, Angola, Ivory Coast and Morocco. Beyond the historic milestone of managing three different countries at consecutive World Cups (a feat only achieved by a handful of managers including Bora Milutinovic, Carlos Alberto Parreira and Guus Hiddink), Renard is also chasing a personal milestone: he has never advanced past the group stage of a men’s World Cup finals.

    Renard’s immediate priority is fixing Tunisia’s leaky defensive structure, which conceded five goals to Sweden just days after allowing five in a pre-tournament warm-up loss to Belgium. The French manager, known for his strict disciplinary approach, has already called on his new squad to put the opening defeat behind them and refocus on their upcoming matches against Japan and the Netherlands. “I just told them we have to hold our heads high… you’re here to represent the country, Tunisia. It’s an honour, it’s a duty,” Renard said. “We owe it to ourselves to do much better.”

    Renard already has prior experience facing Japan during World Cup qualifying with Saudi Arabia, and he will draw on that knowledge to push for Tunisia’s first ever knockout stage appearance at a World Cup. If he can pull off the comeback and secure Tunisia a spot in the round of 32, it will add yet another legendary entry to Renard’s already remarkable coaching career.

  • US-Iran talks in Switzerland postponed as fighting in Lebanon intensifies

    US-Iran talks in Switzerland postponed as fighting in Lebanon intensifies

    In a late Thursday announcement, the White House confirmed that U.S. Vice President JD Vance has scrapped his scheduled trip to Switzerland, triggering a last-minute postponement of a critical new round of direct U.S.-Iran negotiations meant to flesh out this week’s landmark bilateral deal.

    The cancellation comes just 24 hours after the United States lifted its naval blockade of Iran under the terms of the new 14-point Memorandum of Understanding, a sweeping agreement designed to end open conflict between the two nations. But even as negotiators prepared for technical discussions at the luxury Burgenstock resort overlooking Lake Lucerne, renewed violence in southern Lebanon has thrown the entire diplomatic process into disarray.

    Hours before the White House confirmed Vance’s withdrawal, Hezbollah-aligned Lebanese media had already reported the talks would be suspended over ongoing Israeli air operations in Lebanon. White House officials emphasized that logistical planning for the high-stakes meeting had never proven “simple or predictable,” and stressed that Washington had not yet finalized formal arrangements for the gathering. Administration officials added that the U.S. remains eager to launch the scheduled technical discussions at the earliest possible opportunity.

    Switzerland’s Federal Department of Foreign Affairs later corroborated the postponement, noting that pre-negotiation preparations are still moving forward despite the schedule change. Security forces, including Swiss military personnel and police, had already deployed to the secluded mountain resort, and a dedicated media center had been constructed to accommodate international journalists covering the talks. The negotiations were expected to focus on rolling out the terms of the new MOU and opening preliminary discussions on long-standing sticking points, most notably Iran’s nuclear program.

    The 14-point agreement signed earlier this week includes landmark provisions: the reopening of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a formal Iranian commitment to never develop nuclear weapons, a $300 billion international reconstruction plan for the Iranian economy, and the full termination of all U.S. sanctions on Iran. The deal also requires both parties to reach a comprehensive final agreement within 60 days, a timeline that can be extended if both sides give their mutual consent.

    Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei confirmed he had approved the deal despite holding personal “different views” on the agreement, claiming former President and current U.S. leader Donald Trump leveraged extreme pressure to force the deal out of desperation. Khamenei emphasized that future in-person talks between Tehran and Washington do not equate to acceptance of what Iran frames as U.S. aggression, stating “this will not mean acceptance of the enemy’s position.” Trump for his part has said he expects a full ceasefire to take hold across all active conflict zones, including the border between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, a requirement explicitly written into the agreement’s text.

    Yet violence has continued unabated in southern Lebanon even after the deal was announced. Early Friday, Lebanese health authorities confirmed that new Israeli air strikes overnight killed at least 18 people and wounded 33 more, with multiple civilian buildings damaged in the bombardment. Lebanon’s state news agency described the overnight attack as one of the most intense of the entire conflict. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its strikes targeted Hezbollah infrastructure and operatives, the Iran-backed militia that has operated out of southern Lebanon for decades. Four IDF soldiers were also killed in retaliatory Hezbollah attacks this week.

    The deadly violence has sparked fierce rhetoric from Israeli hardliners. Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir wrote on social media platform X that “all of Lebanon must burn,” adding, “With all due respect to the Americans, Israel must make it clear to the entire world that the blood of our sons and the security of our citizens are not up for bargaining.” Vance had publicly pushed back against hardline Israeli cabinet members including Ben-Gvir earlier Thursday, telling reporters Israel should “wake up and smell the reality” of the current diplomatic opening.

    Lebanon was drawn into the broader U.S.-Iran conflict shortly after it began, when Hezbollah launched rocket strikes into northern Israel in retaliation for an Israeli strike that killed Iran’s previous supreme leader. Israel responded with a massive cross-border bombing campaign and a ground incursion into southern Lebanon, launched to push Hezbollah fighters back from Israel’s northern border. To date, Lebanese health authorities report that more than 3,900 people, including large numbers of women and children, have been killed in Israeli attacks across the country. Israeli officials confirm at least 30 soldiers and four civilians have been killed on the Israeli side of the border during the same period.

  • Vietnamese man deported from U.S. to South Sudan is repatriated after months in detention

    Vietnamese man deported from U.S. to South Sudan is repatriated after months in detention

    JUBA, South Sudan – More than a year after being transferred to South Sudan as part of the former Trump administration’s divisive third-country deportation initiative, a Vietnamese national has finally returned to his home country, shedding new light on the opaque and widely criticized program that resettles non-U.S. citizens with completed criminal sentences in third-party African nations.

    Forty-four-year-old Tuan Phan, who moved to the United States as a child in 1991, was formally repatriated to Vietnam on Friday, South Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed during a weekly press briefing. Spokesperson Agok Anyar noted that throughout his more than 12 months in South Sudanese custody, Phan maintained good conduct and remained in stable health, for which the ministry expressed gratitude.

    Phan’s journey to Juba was tangled in legal dispute from the start. He and seven other male deportees were first rerouted to a U.S. military base in Djibouti in May 2025, after a federal judge paused their flight to South Sudan over documented procedural violations in their deportation orders. It was not until a Supreme Court ruling cleared the way for their removal that the group finally arrived in South Sudan’s capital aboard a U.S. military aircraft two months later.

    All eight men had already served full prison sentences for U.S. criminal convictions when Immigration and Customs Enforcement took them into immigration custody last year. Phan’s conviction dates back to 2000, shortly after he turned 18, when he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for a fatal shooting during a gang altercation. His deportation was first ordered in 2009, and he was taken directly into ICE custody upon his release from prison in March 2025.

    The third-country deportation program, negotiated by the Trump administration, has secured agreements from at least seven African nations to accept deportees who are not their native citizens, in exchange for millions of dollars in U.S. financial assistance. Monitoring group Third Country Deportation Watch estimates that more than 180 people have been transferred to these participating nations to date.

    The decision to place deportees in South Sudan has drawn particularly sharp condemnation from human rights groups, due to the country’s well-documented poor human rights record, systemic widespread corruption, and escalating political instability. United Nations data confirms that ongoing armed conflict in South Sudan displaced over half a million people in 2025 alone, creating a fragile humanitarian crisis across much of the country.

    A U.S. Senate investigation into the conditions of the South Sudan transfers found that the eight deportees were held in a walled, gated residential compound under constant armed guard. The report also documented that for months, no independent observers outside of South Sudanese government officials had access to the group, with a congressional aide becoming the first external visitor during a trip to Juba late last year.

    Michael Bochenek, senior counsel for global human rights nonprofit Human Rights Watch, emphasized that the lack of independent access creates dangerous gaps in oversight. “There’s been no independent check on people’s treatment and conditions of confinement, and this raises serious questions about South Sudan’s compliance with human rights norms and essential safeguards against abuses in detention,” Bochenek explained.

    Unlike publicized agreements with other participating African nations, the full terms of the U.S. deal with South Sudan remain undisclosed. Declassified State Department records do show that South Sudan submitted specific requests to U.S. officials after agreeing to accept the deportees, including demands for sanctions relief for a former senior government official and U.S. support for the prosecution of a high-profile opposition leader. It remains unclear what financial or other concessions the U.S. provided to South Sudan’s government in exchange for accepting the group.

    Phan is the second member of the eight-person group to leave South Sudan for repatriation. Jesus Munõz-Gutierrez, a Mexican national in the group, was returned to Mexico in September. Dian Peter Domach, the only South Sudanese citizen among the eight, was released from custody immediately upon arrival. The four remaining deportees are nationals of Cuba, Myanmar, and Laos, and their future status remains unclear.

  • Andy Burnham is the ‘King of the North’ with his eyes on 10 Downing Street

    Andy Burnham is the ‘King of the North’ with his eyes on 10 Downing Street

    LONDON — After a decades-long political career that has taken him from junior Parliament member to the widely popular mayor of Britain’s northern industrial powerhouse, Andy Burnham has cleared the final hurdle to mount a challenge for leadership of the Labour Party and the office of British prime minister, positioning himself as a populist alternative to incumbent Keir Starmer.

  • Zimbabwe MPs pass bill to extend president’s time in power

    Zimbabwe MPs pass bill to extend president’s time in power

    Zimbabwe’s political landscape has been thrown into sharp debate after the country’s lower house of parliament passed a sweeping constitutional amendment that will extend presidential terms from five to seven years and allow 83-year-old incumbent President Emmerson Mnangagwa to stay in office until 2030, two years beyond his previously scheduled departure.

    The vote held on Thursday delivered a decisive victory for ruling party Zanu-PF, which has held continuous power since Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980. Final tallies showed 216 lawmakers backing the amendment, easily clearing the constitutionally required two-thirds majority threshold of 187 votes needed to change the nation’s founding charter. Only 42 parliamentarians cast votes against the controversial proposal.

    Beyond extending Mnangagwa’s current term, the amendment carries far-reaching changes to Zimbabwe’s political system. It scraps direct public presidential elections, a system that has been in place since 1990, and transfers the power to select the head of state to parliament itself. It also extends parliamentary terms from five to seven years and pushes the next scheduled parliamentary election, originally planned for 2028, back to 2030.

    The proposal is the end result of a months-long push by Zanu-PF, which secured cabinet backing for the constitutional amendment plan back in February. The bill will now move to Zimbabwe’s senate for a final vote, where political observers widely predict it will pass, before heading to Mnangagwa to be signed into law.

    This development marks a striking reversal for the president, who has previously positioned himself as a committed constitutionalist and publicly pledged to respect the existing two-term limit that was set to see him step down in 2028. Mnangagwa first rose to the presidency in 2017, when he ousted long-time authoritarian ruler Robert Mugabe in a military-backed takeover. He subsequently won contested national elections in both 2018 and 2023, results that have faced widespread scrutiny from international observers and opposition groups.

    Opposition voices, civil society organizations, and constitutional legal experts have united in criticism of the amendment process, arguing that such a fundamental restructuring of Zimbabwe’s political system requires approval via a national public referendum, rather than a vote solely by sitting lawmakers. Their criticism draws on the text of the 2013 constitution, which currently states that any change to presidential term limits must be approved by voters in a public referendum, and that a sitting president cannot personally benefit from an extension without explicit voter approval in a second public vote.

    A last-ditch legal challenge to block the bill was heard and dismissed by Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Court just one day before the lower house vote, clearing the way for Thursday’s proceeding.

    When Mnangagwa first took office, many observers and domestic supporters hoped he would usher in a new era of democratic reform and economic recovery for the struggling southern African nation. Instead, his tenure has been defined by persistent severe economic crises, repeated disputed electoral contests, and growing international and domestic concern over steady democratic backsliding.

    The amendment has intensified long-simmering tensions over Zimbabwe’s political trajectory. Opponents warn that the changes will drastically weaken democratic accountability and consolidate one-party control, while proponents of the amendment argue the longer terms and shifted election process are necessary to deliver political continuity and national stability as the country works to address its deep economic challenges.