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  • ‘There is no life left’: How volunteers buried 600 bodies in Sudan’s North Kordofan

    ‘There is no life left’: How volunteers buried 600 bodies in Sudan’s North Kordofan

    More than 18 months into Sudan’s brutal civil war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a grim discovery has unfolded in the North Kordofan state town of Bara, revealing the full scale of alleged mass atrocities committed by the paramilitary group. After the SAF recaptured Bara from RSF control during intense fighting in July 2025, local volunteers have recovered and buried more than 600 corpses scattered across the town’s streets, residential homes, public squares, surrounding villages, and the key highway connecting Bara to el-Obeid, the strategic state capital. Local activists and volunteers confirm hundreds more bodies remain uncollected, rotting in open areas across the region. Eyewitnesses and local sources allege the vast majority of the recovered dead are unarmed civilians killed in deliberate revenge attacks carried out by the RSF after the group seized control of the area, with the remaining bodies belonging to fighters from both warring factions.

    Exclusive photos and video footage obtained by Middle East Eye document the horrific conditions volunteers have faced. Bodies were left exposed to Sudan’s sweltering heat for months, with many decomposing completely into skeletons in just a few weeks, while others remain partially preserved. Remains have been found of all ages, including children and elderly civilians, alongside the fresher bodies of combatants. The scale of unburied dead has turned Bara, once a populated community, into a deserted wasteland. The ground is contaminated by decomposition, overrun by swarms of insects and roaming scorpions, and littered with additional dead animals and birds. This toxic environment has already sparked the rapid spread of unidentified, unexplained diseases across the area, putting the volunteers working to bury the dead at extreme risk.

    To date, 50 volunteers have led the entire recovery and burial effort, funded largely by local community groups, Bara residents, and members of the Sudanese diaspora, particularly those based in Gulf countries and neighboring el-Obeid. One volunteer revealed the team has opened 200 mass graves to inter the remains, burying 400 additional bodies in separate sites. The Sudanese Ministry of Health, Sudanese Red Crescent, and small local initiatives have only provided basic supplies including mortuary bags and body containers. Volunteers report they have received no direct support from national authorities or major international non-governmental organizations, and are still in desperate need of critical logistical aid: fuel for transport, protective gloves, face masks, hand sanitizer, additional body bags, and other sanitation materials.

    Abdul Rahman, a leading figure of the Bara resistance committee, told Middle East Eye that recovery operations remain ongoing, as teams believe the final death toll will far exceed current field estimates. Hundreds of bodies are still stranded in hard-to-reach outlying communities including Geraigikh, Jabrat al-Sheikh, and Umm Syala. Sudan’s Ministry of Information has confirmed that RSF abuses have impacted more than 100 villages across the Bara region, forcing the entire local population to flee their homes. Following a meeting between Bara local leaders and Information Minister Khalid Ismail Ahmed Ali el-Aisir, the ministry announced the federal government would provide support to victims through medical care and future reconstruction efforts, though no funding or timeline has been released.

    Activist groups including the independent Emergency Response Rooms and popular resistance volunteers operating under SAF coordination have formally accused the RSF of carrying out systematic massacres across the Bara area in October 2024. The RSF, a paramilitary force that grew out of the former Janjaweed militia in Darfur, has already been formally designated as committing genocide by the United Nations and United States across multiple regions of western Sudan. The group is widely documented to receive military and financial sponsorship from the United Arab Emirates, a claim Abu Dhabi continues to deny despite mounting evidence from UN fact-finding missions and independent investigators.

    Sudan’s conflict erupted in April 2023 over a power struggle between SAF commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. It has since spiraled into the world’s largest active humanitarian crisis, with more than 11 million people forcibly displaced from their homes and at least 150,000 people killed, according to UN estimates. Both the SAF and RSF have been credibly accused of war crimes, including deliberate attacks on civilian infrastructure, sexual violence, and extrajudicial killings. The SAF receives military backing from Egypt and Turkey, while Egypt recently drew international condemnation for an airstrike on a gold mining camp near the Sudan-Egypt border that killed at least 114 civilian miners.

    Recent weeks have seen a major territorial advance by the SAF across North Kordofan, with the army retaking control of key towns including Sodar, Um Badir, and al-Mazroub, returning most of the state to government control. Military sources tell Middle East Eye the SAF is planning its next push into neighboring West Kordofan, targeting the major gum arabic-producing cities of Al-Nuhud and Al-Khuwayyi. The region historically produces more than 80 percent of the global supply of gum arabic, a critical additive used by multinational food giants including Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, as well as in pharmaceutical and cosmetic products. For its part, the RSF has responded by expanding cross-country drone strikes, targeting population centers including el-Obeid, Kosti in White Nile state, Atbara in northern Sudan, and the capital Khartoum and its twin city Omdurman.

    The conflict’s international dimensions were thrown into sharp relief recently when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly presented a map dividing Sudan into spheres of influence: RSF-held western Sudan was labeled as friendly to Israel and the UAE, while SAF-controlled territory was marked as aligned with Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Pakistan. To date, years of international diplomatic efforts to broker a ceasefire and end the war have failed to produce any meaningful progress, leaving civilians across Sudan trapped in ongoing violence and humanitarian catastrophe.

  • Hidden hands and hired guns: how Iran hits its enemies abroad

    Hidden hands and hired guns: how Iran hits its enemies abroad

    Britain’s Prime Minister Andy Burnham has publicly claimed that a recently uncovered suspected terror plot targeting RAF Fairford, a key Royal Air Force base in Gloucestershire, was “almost certainly” directed from Iran. The explosive allegation has pulled back the curtain on long-running debates over how the Islamic Republic projects coercive power beyond its own borders, at a moment when British security officials are already sounding the alarm over escalating Iranian-linked activity on UK soil.

    Just weeks earlier, in early October, two Iranian nationals were formally charged with involvement in a separate alleged plot to attack Jewish community institutions in Manchester. UK authorities confirm the two suspects were in direct communication with an individual believed to be based inside Iran. While both the Manchester and RAF Fairford cases remain active ongoing investigations, security analysts say they align with a 45-year pattern of covert and malign operations carried out by Tehran since the founding of the Islamic Republic in 1979.

    For decades, Iran’s overseas targeting has primarily focused on political dissidents, opposition figures, and groups deemed enemies of the ruling regime, with a documented history of lethal attacks stretching back to the final decades of the 20th century. One of the most high-profile incidents came in 1992, when four Iranian opposition activists were gunned down in an assassination at a Greek restaurant in Berlin, Germany. A subsequent German court ruling formally concluded that senior Iranian political leaders—including then-supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei—directly ordered the killings. The verdict triggered a major diplomatic crisis between Iran and multiple European nations, forcing Tehran to revise how it structured and carried out its overseas operations.

    In the years following the Berlin incident, Iran shifted its focus away from large-scale public assassinations toward softer, less visible tactics: expanded surveillance, espionage, infiltration of opposition groups, disinformation campaigns, and intimidation of exiled critics. But lethal targeting and state-linked terror have never been fully removed from the regime’s toolbox of overseas influence.

    Historically, most Iranian overseas operations were executed by official Iranian intelligence officers acting directly on behalf of the state, with Tehran also leveraging allied proxy groups such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah to carry out sensitive tasks. Iranian diplomatic missions have also faced repeated accusations that they operate far outside the bounds of traditional diplomacy, with multiple investigations linking Iranian embassy networks to intelligence gathering, surveillance of dissidents, and logistical support for covert violent operations. The most prominent example of this diplomatic abuse came in 2020, when Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi was convicted by a Belgian court for his central role in a plot to bomb a large gathering of Iranian opposition activists in France in 2018. The conviction made clear that Tehran still relies heavily on diplomatic cover to facilitate state-directed overseas operations, a core pillar of its longstanding security strategy.

    Over the past two decades, however, researcher Ardavan Khoshnood—associate professor in emergency medicine and intelligence studies scholar at Sweden’s Lund University—documents a key evolution in Tehran’s operating model: rather than relying solely on official intelligence personnel or diplomatic staff, Iran has increasingly turned to local criminal networks and intermediaries to carry out surveillance, intimidation, and even lethal attacks on its behalf.

    This adaptive approach offers three distinct strategic advantages for Iran. First, local criminal actors already have deep knowledge of their operating environments, pre-existing access to illicit markets, and established underworld networks that let them operate without drawing the same scrutiny that foreign intelligence officers attract. Second, using non-state intermediaries gives Tehran plausible deniability: even when investigators apprehend the direct perpetrators of an attack, tracing a clear line of command back to official Iranian state institutions is extremely difficult. Third, hiring criminal networks is typically cheaper and more flexible than deploying trained intelligence operatives from Iran itself, creating a new, hybrid model that blurs the lines between state-sponsored political violence, organized criminal activity, and covert state action.

    High-profile examples of this new model underscore its effectiveness for Tehran. In 2015, Iranian dissident Mohammad Reza Kolahi was assassinated in the Netherlands. Naoufal Fassih, a leading figure in the European illicit drug trade, was later convicted by a Dutch court of hiring hitmen to carry out the killing, with Dutch intelligence noting “strong indications that Iran was involved.” In 2017, Turkish-based Iranian drug trafficker Naji Ibrahim Sharifi Zindashti and his network were implicated in the assassination of Istanbul-based media executive Saeed Karimian, who had previously been sentenced to six years in prison in absentia by a Tehran court on charges of spreading anti-regime propaganda. Zindashti’s network was also tied to the 2019 killing of Masoud Vardanjani, an Iranian cybersecurity defector and former defense ministry official who had become a vocal critic of the Iranian regime before he was shot dead in Istanbul.

    In the wake of the latest UK plots, a striking detail has emerged: both the Manchester and RAF Fairford cases allege that Iranian authorities recruited and directed individuals of Iranian background who already reside in the United Kingdom. If these allegations are proven, they demonstrate that Iran’s intelligence apparatus—despite significant losses inflicted by recent conflicts with the United States and Israel—retains intact recruitment networks and the operational capacity to direct hostile activity on European and British soil.

    Taken together, these recent high-profile cases paint a clear picture: while Iran’s overseas intelligence operations have shifted tactics repeatedly over the past four decades to adapt to international pressure, the regime has never abandoned its goal of targeting perceived enemies abroad, and continues to evolve its operating model to evade detection and hold onto its ability to project malign power beyond its borders.

  • Murder arrest over British tourist’s Greece death

    Murder arrest over British tourist’s Greece death

    A high-profile investigation into the death of a 66-year-old British tourist on the popular Greek island of Zakynthos has taken a new turn, with investigators confirming a suspect has been re-arrested on suspicion of murder following the emergence of fresh evidence.

    The opening of the UK inquest into the death of Jacqueline Causton, a resident of Bawtry, South Yorkshire, heard that Causton was discovered unresponsive inside her private holiday villa on Zakynthos – also widely known as Zante – on 14 May this year. Emergency responders rushed her to a local medical facility on the island for urgent treatment, but medical teams were unable to revive her and she was formally pronounced dead shortly after arrival. Her remains were later transported back to the United Kingdom to allow for domestic examination and family arrangements.

    Detective Constable Mike Tilley, representing South Yorkshire Police, told Doncaster Coroner’s Court that an initial arrest of a suspect was carried out on 12 June on suspicion of murder. The individual was released on bail following that first detention, but law enforcement officers took the rare step of re-arresting the suspect over the past weekend after investigators uncovered new evidence linked to the case. Following the court hearing, South Yorkshire Police confirmed the suspect is a 69-year-old man who was taken into custody in Worcestershire, England.

    Tilley told the court the investigation remains significantly complex, with key investigative material collected by Greek law enforcement still stored in Greece, and a number of potential witnesses holding foreign nationality. He added that additional forensic pathological analysis of Causton’s remains is expected to be required before the case can progress, and senior legal bodies have not yet reached a decision on whether Greek or UK authorities will take lead responsibility for the full investigation. As of the inquest opening, no details about the exact cause of Causton’s death have been released to the public.

    Coroner Louise Slater, who presided over the opening hearing, extended formal condolences to Causton’s family and friends ahead of the next scheduled hearing, which will convene in February 2027 to provide an update on the investigation’s progress.

    Beyond the investigation, Causton’s legacy as a dedicated community supporter and charity advocate has been highlighted by local organizations. In June, Doncaster Mind, a UK-based mental health charity, paid tribute to Causton, describing her as a deeply cherished supporter of the organization’s work. The charity shared that Causton and her late husband became beloved community figures by turning their personal Bawtry home into a festive Christmas attraction open to the local public each year. Their annual tradition brought joy to countless local residents, the charity said, noting that the couple’s kindness, generosity and commitment to community building left a lasting impact on the area. “We will always be grateful for everything they did to help us continue our work,” a Doncaster Mind spokesperson added.

  • Macron accuses foreign leaders of exploiting French riots

    Macron accuses foreign leaders of exploiting French riots

    Widespread urban violence that swept across Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Nice and other major French cities in the wake of weeks of student-led high school protests over living conditions has triggered an international diplomatic row, with French President Emmanuel Macron accusing multiple foreign leaders of exploiting the unrest for their own domestic electoral gains.

    Speaking during an official visit to Doha, Qatar, Macron stopped short of naming the leaders he targeted, but made clear his criticism fell on figures campaigning in upcoming votes who made divisive statements about the riots “at France’s expense,” noting they were operating “whether here in the region or on the other side of the Atlantic.” The accusation is widely understood to target Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces parliamentary elections next week, and former U.S. President Donald Trump, who is campaigning for the midterm elections in November.

    Netanyahu drew fierce pushback after claiming in an interview with Israel’s i24 News that France is facing an “invasion of extremist Islam,” repeating a warning he gave Macron following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack that “if we do not eliminate them here, you will have them in Paris.” He added that “that is exactly what is happening” amid the French unrest. For his part, Trump pinned the blame for the violence on mass immigration to France, arguing the turmoil “is not about school” but “about people coming into the countries that hate the country.” He issued a direct call to Macron to “close your borders and take control before it is too late.”

    Macron confirmed that there is no evidence of direct foreign interference in the outbreak of the violence itself, but slammed what he called “foreign manipulation of information afterwards” that fueled false and inflammatory claims. He specifically called out baseless conspiracies that France had been “invaded by hordes of migrants and Islamists,” which he described as completely false. The French president added that the foreign leaders who repeated these claims were influenced by fabricated AI-generated videos and disinformation spread online.

    In the wake of the unrest, nearly 150 people have been jailed and over 800 have been brought before French courts. Viral footage circulating on social media has captured intense running battles between masked rioters and police, widespread property damage and widespread looting of retail stores. The French government has publicly acknowledged that police temporarily “lost control” of areas gripped by the worst violence. In the aftermath of the unrest, Macron has vowed that authorities will take an “uncompromising” stance against what he called “agitators from ultra-left fringe groups,” which he blames for inciting most of the violence.

    Multiple independent investigations have backed Macron’s claims of widespread disinformation tied to the unrest. The UK’s *Financial Times* reported that European Union regulators are currently probing possible foreign online interference and coordinated disinformation campaigns tied to the French riots, as well as similar recent unrest across other EU member states. Citing unnamed security sources, the outlet noted that pro-Russian accounts and far-right social media pages linked to past disinformation operations have actively spread violent footage to amplify chaos and deepen domestic divisions in France. The report also named Iran and Algeria as additional suspects linked to some of the misleading messaging.

    David Colon, a disinformation researcher at France’s prestigious Sciences Po university, confirmed that “pro-Kremlin influencers” tied to the Russian disinformation operation codenamed Storm-1516 “amplified the events and spread a number of false narratives.” Tensions between France and Russia run high, as France is one of the most vocal military backers of Ukraine in its ongoing war against Russian invasion. France also faces longstanding strained tensions with Algeria, a former French colony that fought a bloody 1962 war of independence, and with Iran amid the latter’s ongoing regional conflicts with the U.S. and Israel.

    BBC Verify’s own analysis has identified more than 15 examples of fake news videos circulating on social media that researchers from U.S.-based dTeam trace to a long-running Russian disinformation operation known as Matryoshka. These fake videos intentionally mimic the branding of major established French news outlets including Le Monde, Euronews and France 24 to mislead viewers into believing they are legitimate reporting. While individual videos from Matryoshka have so far had limited reach, experts note that their focus on amplifying French domestic unrest aligns with well-documented Russian disinformation tactics designed to destabilize Western nations.

    In addition to fabricated videos, BBC Verify also traced one of the most viral AI-generated images circulating online — which purported to show an elderly Parisian couple robbed and left naked by rioters — to an Israeli media outlet. Sabrina Hania, director of Infos-Israel.News, confirmed her team created the image using ChatGPT on October 17, shortly after a television journalist cited unconfirmed “police information” about the alleged incident. French prosecutors have confirmed they have no evidence that the event ever occurred. While the original post labelled the image as AI-generated when it was first shared on X and Instagram, it was later reshared hundreds of thousands of times without any disclaimer, amassing more than six million views. Hania said she regrets the image was taken out of context and misled so many people, placing blame on users who reshared it without disclosing it was AI-generated fabrications.

  • Is time running out for Mohammed bin Salman?

    Is time running out for Mohammed bin Salman?

    Seven centuries ago, 14th-century North African historian Ibn Khaldun posed a timeless observation on dynastic rule in his seminal work *The Muqaddimah*: great powers often collapse after three generations when ruling lines fail to produce capable, steady leaders. Today, that observation hangs over the House of Saud, as questions grow over whether Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has eroded the very dynasty he was positioned to strengthen and secure.

    The kingdom now faces converging pressures from both domestic discontent and international instability, with nearly all of the crown prince’s core policy bets unraveling simultaneously. His central strategic gambles – defeating the Houthi movement to install a pro-Saudi government in neighboring Yemen, overhauling Saudi Arabia’s oil-dependent economy through his ambitious Vision 2030 agenda, and relying on a Donald Trump-aligned United States as a steadied long-term ally – have all fallen short of their promised outcomes.

    Growing circles of critics both inside and outside the kingdom argue that the only path forward to avoid catastrophe is a transfer of power: replacing Prince Mohammed with a more viable successor, restructuring the kingdom’s failed diplomatic and economic frameworks, and implementing long-delayed democratic governance reforms. Without such changes, observers warn the kingdom could fragment into rival fiefdoms controlled by competing royal factions, dissolving the unified Saudi state that has existed for nearly a century.

    External powers eager to access Saudi Arabia’s unmatched energy and mineral wealth – which includes not only the world’s largest proven fossil fuel reserves, but also an estimated 114 million tonnes of rare earth minerals and uranium-bearing ore – stand ready to exploit any internal fragmentation, analysts warn.

    Having failed to achieve its strategic goals in Iran, some geopolitical analysts argue Saudi Arabia has become the next, far more vulnerable target for external interference. This assessment is reinforced by the refusal of former U.S. President Donald Trump and Western powers to step up robust support for Prince Mohammed against ongoing Houthi attacks, they add.

    Since consolidating de facto power, critics argue Prince Mohammed has done more harm than good for Saudi Arabia’s long-term stability. Most critically, he has accumulated a wide network of enemies both at home and abroad while failing to deliver on his core promise of securing the kingdom. Today, Saudi Arabia spends roughly $83 billion annually on its military, equal to 6.5% of its total GDP and approximately 3% of global military spending. In 2015, when Prince Mohammed served as defense minister, that figure reached 13% of GDP – one of the highest military burdens in the world.

    The starkest proof of the kingdom’s vulnerability came in an October 10 Houthi missile strike on Riyadh’s main international airport, which killed at least 13 people and undermined global confidence in Saudi Arabia’s ability to protect critical infrastructure and keep international visitors safe.

    It was that same 2015, under Prince Mohammed’s leadership, that Saudi Arabia launched a massive military campaign against Houthi-controlled northern Yemen in coordination with the United Arab Emirates. What was billed as a quick, decisive operation dragged on for eight devastating years. A brutal air bombardment campaign and total blockade created catastrophic shortages of food and medicine, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 700,000 Yemeni civilians, according to global humanitarian estimates.

    In total, Riyadh has poured roughly $200 billion into the Yemen conflict, yet it has failed to defeat a low-budget, guerrilla-style adversary whose entire military budget amounts to less than $7 billion. Critics explain this lopsided failure by arguing that much of Saudi Arabia’s military spending has been directed not at securing national borders, but at entrenching Prince Mohammed’s hold on power and suppressing domestic rivals.

    Beyond the costly quagmire in Yemen, critics argue the crown prince has squandered billions of dollars of the kingdom’s sovereign wealth on ill-conceived, overambitious economic projects tied to his Vision 2030 plan, which was designed to wean Saudi Arabia off its dependence on oil exports. Billions alone have been spent on international consultancy fees to market the vague, sweeping plan, observers note.

    Jamal Khashoggi, the dissident Saudi journalist murdered and dismembered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018, warned in his reporting that if these massive megaprojects failed, Saudi Arabia could eventually slip into becoming one of the poorest countries in the Middle East.

    That warning has gained new traction following a leaked Wall Street Journal audit of NEOM, Prince Mohammed’s flagship $500 billion smart city megaproject launched in 2017 in Tabuk Province. The audit found the project is effectively bankrupt, with the crown prince shifting available funding away from its centerpiece development – The Line, a planned 170-kilometer car-free linear city – to cover infrastructure costs for the 2030 World Expo and 2034 FIFA World Cup. Shuttering the partially built project would cost the Saudi government up to $16 billion in write-downs, the report found.

    Recent regional conflicts have compounded these economic woes. The U.S.-Israeli escalation against Iran and associated disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz have hit Saudi oil exports particularly hard. Later blockades of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and Houthi and Iraqi militia attacks on Saudi Arabia’s critical East-West oil pipeline have further blocked export routes, draining the kingdom’s single largest source of revenue.

    Where the International Monetary Fund initially projected the Saudi economy would grow 4% in 2026, updated projections now point to a 3.3% contraction this year.

    Amid rising security threats, separate Wall Street Journal reporting notes that Prince Mohammed frequently rotates his residence between multiple palaces and underground bunkers, a precaution widely interpreted as a measure to avoid assassination attempts by drone. While Houthi forces have not yet targeted his specific location, domestic royal rivals and internal opponents could easily do so, observers warn.

    Experts point to historical precedent for regicide within the House of Saud: King Faisal, widely considered one of the dynasty’s most capable and effective monarchs, was assassinated by a member of his own family in 1975, with longstanding rumors of foreign involvement in the plot.

    For decades, the House of Saud followed a traditional horizontal system of succession, passing power from brother to brother among the sons of the kingdom’s founder, Ibn Saud, rather than vertically from father to son. That longstanding norm was broken in 2017, when Prince Mohammed, backed by his father King Salman, orchestrated a de facto palace coup to sideline the then-designated successor, former Interior Minister Mohammed bin Nayef, who remains under house arrest to this day.

    Critics view the 2017 shakeup as a blatant power grab, and many suspect the move could not have happened without at least tacit backing from the United States – a particularly bitter irony given that Prince Mohammed accused the detained princes of maintaining contacts with foreign powers to stage a coup. What concessions Prince Mohammed may have offered Washington in exchange for its backing remains undisclosed, but analysts widely note that U.S. diplomatic support for such power plays rarely comes without strings attached.

    To be fair, Prince Mohammed did shift toward more pragmatic diplomacy in 2021, ending the Saudi-led blockade of Qatar and opening exploratory talks for a peace deal with the Houthis. Before the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel that ignited the ongoing Gaza war, there were unconfirmed reports of a U.S.-brokered deal that would have seen Saudi Arabia formally recognize Israel in exchange for U.S. security guarantees. That deal is now completely off the table amid the ongoing regional war escalation centered on Iran.

    While Vision 2030 was marketed as a plan to end Saudi Arabia’s dependence on oil, critics argue Prince Mohammed’s policies have only worsened economic strains, increased Riyadh’s reliance on fossil fuel revenue, and weakened national security. Once counted among the world’s wealthiest nations, Saudi Arabia is now in clear, if not accelerating, decline, with the crown prince’s policies driving the kingdom deeper into sovereign debt.

    As Houthi attacks put the kingdom under unprecedented pressure, no Western power has stepped forward to offer meaningful military or political support. Only a handful of Muslim-majority nations have offered backing, but these states operate with competing strategic interests that could lead to infighting, analysts warn, creating a power vacuum that advances the goal of expanding Israeli influence across the Middle East.

    Nearly 65% of Saudi citizens are under the age of 27, and observers argue this young majority must look past the crown prince’s rhetorical promises of “freedom” and “modernization” to ask a simple, critical question: do his policies serve the Saudi people, or only his hold on personal power? Never in the kingdom’s modern history has Saudi Arabia faced such clear risks of collapse from internal fragmentation, while also facing intensifying pressure from external powers eager to exploit its weakness.

  • Irish weather warning ahead of Storm Austen

    Irish weather warning ahead of Storm Austen

    As Atlantic Storm Austen prepares to make landfall on Thursday, national weather authorities have activated multiple layers of weather alerts across the Republic of Ireland, warning residents and travelers of widespread hazards including flooding, transportation chaos, and life-threatening conditions.

    Meteorological projections show the storm system will track toward Ireland’s southern coast between Thursday evening and early Friday morning, bringing heavy rain and gusty winds that are likely to upend daily routines. While Northern Ireland has not been placed under formal warnings, the region is still expected to see broad rainfall overnight Thursday, with precipitation clearing eastward by Friday morning.

    Met Éireann, Ireland’s national weather service, has issued an orange-level rain warning — the second-highest alert tier on the country’s warning scale — for six major counties: Cork, Dublin, Kerry, Waterford, Wexford, and Wicklow. The agency warns that flash flooding is a distinct possibility, public transit services will face major delays or cancellations, and roads will become extremely hazardous for drivers. Complementing the targeted orange alert, a nationwide yellow warning for both rain and wind will go into effect starting at 19:00 local time Thursday, remaining in place until 10:00 Friday.

    Unfortunately for residents bracing for the storm, the arrival of Austen will not bring an end to the island’s spell of turbulent weather. Forecasters are already tracking a second low-pressure system that is expected to move north of Ireland over the coming weekend, which has the potential to deliver another round of heavy rain and strong winds across the entire island of Ireland. While the full scope of impacts from this second system is still being assessed, its projected path opens the door to multiple consecutive days of erratic, disruptive weather, with additional wet conditions forecast for Saturday.

    To help the public better understand storm naming protocols, the three national weather agencies that coordinate storm naming for the region — the UK’s Met Office, Ireland’s Met Éireann, and the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) — maintain an alphabetized pre-approved list of storm names, paired with public safety guidance. A storm is officially named when forecasts project medium to high impact in at least one of the three participating countries, a system designed to help the public quickly identify dangerous weather systems and respond appropriately to official warnings.

    The annual Northern Hemisphere storm season runs from September 1 to August 31 of the following year, with peak storm activity typically concentrated between October and March. That said, powerful storm systems can and do develop outside of this peak window, making year-round preparedness important for Atlantic coastal communities.

    Current climate analysis shows no definitive observed trend in the strength or frequency of windstorms across the United Kingdom and the broader North Atlantic basin. Most long-term climate projections do indicate that winter windstorms impacting the UK could become slightly more frequent and more intense in coming decades, though high levels of uncertainty remain around these projections. What is clearer, however, is that ongoing global sea level rise will amplify the risk of coastal flooding associated with future storm events, increasing the potential for damage even when storms have similar wind intensity to past events.

  • Russia frees US citizen Stephen Hubbard, state media reports

    Russia frees US citizen Stephen Hubbard, state media reports

    In a high-stakes diplomatic meeting held in St. Petersburg, Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that Moscow will release 74-year-old detained American citizen Stephen Hubbard, following negotiations with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff. According to Russian state media, Hubbard has already been transferred to St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport ahead of his departure from Russia, closing a months-long diplomatic standoff over his detention.

    Hubbard, a retired teacher originally from Michigan, was handed a nearly seven-year prison sentence in a Russian penal colony earlier this year. Russian prosecutors leveled charges that he had joined a Ukrainian defense battalion in the eastern Ukrainian city of Izyum, where he was captured by Russian forces shortly after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The U.S. State Department had long categorized Hubbard as being wrongfully detained, and current U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed earlier this week that he had personally raised Hubbard’s case during discussions with Putin.

    “We have been focused on Hubbard,” Trump told reporters Tuesday, adding “Watch what happens” to tease the impending breakthrough. Multiple U.S. media outlets including CBS News, the BBC’s U.S. distribution partner, have reported that Hubbard has been suffering from serious underlying health issues during his detention, and he is expected to fly to Texas immediately after his release to receive urgent medical care. The BBC has reached out to the White House to request additional comment on the deal, as of publication no formal statement has been released.

    The agreement to release Hubbard was paired with a separate energy deal between Washington and Moscow announced earlier this month, which will resume U.S. imports of Russian diesel. Russian state media reported that Witkoff expressed gratitude to Putin on President Trump’s behalf both for Hubbard’s release and for the new energy agreement. Putin told reporters that the first shipment of Russian diesel under the new deal will depart Russia within two to three days, confirming the timeline in comments carried by Russian state news agency TASS.

    The dual deal has already triggered sharp backlash from Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has publicly condemned the diesel agreement, and the move has further strained already frayed diplomatic ties between Kyiv and Washington. In on-camera remarks made during Wednesday’s St. Petersburg meeting and aired on Russian state television, Witkoff framed the energy agreement as a model for what cooperation between Moscow and Kyiv could achieve. “Your decision to remove export controls on diesel oil from Russia, not just to the U.S. but also to the world at large in the midst of an economic shock, I think that was really important that that happened,” Witkoff said. “I know [President Trump] is deeply grateful for it.”

  • Gambia to pay victims of Yahya Jammeh’s rule from proceeds of his seized US mansion

    Gambia to pay victims of Yahya Jammeh’s rule from proceeds of his seized US mansion

    More than six years after former longtime Gambian dictator Yahya Jammeh was forced out of power, a major step forward has been taken to deliver long-awaited justice to thousands of victims of his authoritarian rule. Gambian authorities confirmed this week that the West African nation has received more than $2.5 million from the U.S. government, funds generated by the forfeiture and sale of one of Jammeh’s illegally acquired overseas assets, and the entire sum will be directed to reparations for survivors and families of those harmed during Jammeh’s 22-year regime.

    The money, which totals exactly $2,573,414.10, comes from the sale of a Maryland mansion Jammeh owned, according to the Gambia’s National Reparations Commission. U.S. authorities first seized the property in 2022, after a court ruled the residence had been purchased using money stolen from the Gambian public through corruption and misappropriation of state funds. This marks one of the first successful cross-border recoveries of assets stolen by the former leader.

    Jammeh seized control of The Gambia in a bloodless military coup in 1994, and went on to consolidate authoritarian power over the country for more than two decades. His tenure was marred by widespread, well-documented human rights violations: independent investigations have confirmed thousands of cases of extrajudicial killing, forced disappearances of political opponents, sexual violence, torture, and systematic corruption that drained the small nation’s public coffers. An official truth and reconciliation commission established after Jammeh’s ouster later confirmed that between 240 and 250 people were killed by state agents under his rule, and he misappropriated more than $300 million in public funds to build a global network of personal assets.

    That network included 281 properties within The Gambia itself, plus additional holdings in the United States and Morocco, and control of more than 100 bank accounts spread across global financial institutions. Investigators have long confirmed Jammeh could never have afforded this sprawling property portfolio on his official presidential salary.

    The 2016 presidential election marked the beginning of the end of Jammeh’s rule. He initially conceded defeat to opposition candidate Adama Barrow, but later backtracked and refused to step down, triggering a constitutional crisis. Intense pressure from the international community and regional bloc ECOWAS followed, with troops from neighboring Senegal and other West African nations deployed to the Gambian border to enforce the election results. In early 2017, Jammeh finally agreed to step down and go into exile in Equatorial Guinea, where he remains today.

    In a public statement this week, the Reparations Commission announced it was pleased to deliver the long-awaited update to victims, survivors, and the general public. The commission emphasized it is committed to managing the recovered funds with full transparency and accountability, prioritizing the rights and needs of those who suffered harm under Jammeh’s regime. This recovery marks a significant milestone in The Gambia’s multi-year effort to seek accountability for past abuses and deliver meaningful reparations to affected communities.

  • Australian MP loses both legs after alleged car attack, husband says

    Australian MP loses both legs after alleged car attack, husband says

    A shocking act of political violence has rocked regional Australia, after independent Member of Parliament Helen Haines was deliberately hit by a car outside her electorate office, leaving her with life-altering injuries that claimed both of her legs. The 53-year-old MP for Indi, first elected in 2019, was attacked on Monday afternoon just outside her office in Wangaratta, a regional town roughly 240 kilometers northeast of Melbourne.

    Haines’ husband, Phil Haines, confirmed the devastating extent of his wife’s injuries during a press conference in Melbourne, where Helen is currently receiving medical care. While the “horrendous incident” left her with severe harm, Phil Haines said that “her heart and her mind are in good shape,” adding that the most important silver lining amid the tragedy is that “she’s alive.” He noted that Helen’s recovery journey will be long and challenging, but emphasized that his wife is a determined fighter with the full support of her family. “She is a determined person who will do her best, with our support and love, to recover. And that is what we hope for,” he said.

    In a gesture that reflected Helen Haines’ long-standing community focus, Phil Haines thanked medical staff and supporters from across Australia and the globe for their outpouring of care, and urged anyone wishing to offer support to donate to the Save the Children fund rather than send gifts or messages directly. “Please keep sending Helen your love,” he added.

    The alleged attacker, 43-year-old Brendan Nugent, a local resident from nearby Tarrawingee with a background as an environmental campaigner, made his first court appearance on Wednesday. He faces three initial charges: dangerous driving causing serious injury, intentionally causing serious injury, and causing harm to a Commonwealth public official. Court documents also reveal additional charges of cultivating and possessing cannabis. Victoria Police have indicated that more severe charges, including attempted murder, could be laid as the investigation progresses.

    During the brief hearing, Nugent did not apply for bail and is scheduled to return to court in February. His defense attorney confirmed that Nugent has a history of mental health concerns and lives with idiopathic transverse myelitis, a rare neurological condition caused by spinal cord inflammation, but no further details were provided. Nugent remained silent and emotionless throughout the appearance.

    Multiple law enforcement agencies, including Victoria Police and the Australian Federal Police, are continuing their investigation into the attack. Victoria Police Commissioner Mike Bush told reporters that establishing a clear motive remains the central focus of the inquiry. “His motivation for this – what we allege is a deliberate attack – is very much a centrepiece of the investigation,” Bush said. “Our people will continue to explore every element, angle and avenue to work that out. It’s something that, when we work towards it, discover it, we will present in court.”

    Investigators are currently probing several possible lines of inquiry, including whether drug use or medication played a role in the attack, and whether any personal connection exists between Nugent and Haines. Police have confirmed that Nugent was not on any law enforcement watchlist prior to the attack, and there was no advance intelligence indicating a threat to Haines. In a surprising twist, Nugent’s own family released a statement saying they have been long-time friends with Haines, and described the attack as “devastating and unfathomable.”

    Witnesses who were first on the scene have described Haines’ remarkable composure even in the immediate aftermath of the crash. Jacob and Jackie Evans, two bystanders who intervened to detain Nugent and provide first aid, told reporters that Haines thanked them for their help even as she lay critically injured. “Thank you, you lovely people,” Haines told the couple, according to local media reports. Jacob Evans used a tourniquet from his car’s first aid kit to stem bleeding from one of Haines’ legs, a step that is widely credited with saving her life before emergency services arrived. Haines underwent emergency surgery following the attack, but surgeons were ultimately unable to save either leg.

    The attack has sent shockwaves through Australia’s political community, where acts of physical violence against elected officials remain extremely rare. Political leaders from across the ideological spectrum have expressed their support for Haines, who is widely respected across party lines. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who has spoken with Phil Haines multiple times since the attack, used the incident to highlight the growing crisis of threats against Australian politicians, particularly women. Albanese noted that female politicians often face a uniquely virulent form of aggression, including rape threats, and police data shows that nearly one person per week is now charged with making threats against high-level public officials.

    The incident has also sparked urgent national debate over the adequacy of security protections for Australia’s 226 federal Members of Parliament. Federal police officials have explained that providing 24/7 personal security to every MP would require an unfeasible level of staffing, so current policy relies on risk assessments based on an MP’s role and known threat levels. Governor-General Sam Mostyn, who joined Phil Haines at his press conference, called on the nation to use this tragedy as a moment for reflection. “This is a moment for us to pause, and to choose to be better,” Mostyn said. “We should do what I imagine Helen would be doing if she was not the victim of this terrible attack – reaching out to those who are terribly distressed by what has happened. Most importantly, that we learn or re-learn to exercise our muscle of decency.”

  • Elon Musk says merging Tesla and SpaceX is a good idea. Why?

    Elon Musk says merging Tesla and SpaceX is a good idea. Why?

    For more than a decade, Elon Musk has built two of the most valuable and ambitious technology companies in modern history: electric vehicle and clean energy leader Tesla, and aerospace innovator SpaceX. Now, the billionaire CEO is actively exploring a combination of the two firms that would reshape the global tech industry and mark the largest corporate merger of all time.

    When asked during a Tuesday appearance whether merging the two companies would be a positive move, Musk gave an unqualified confirmation: “Yes.” What makes the conversation more than just speculative discussion is that special independent committees have already been convened to evaluate the feasibility and terms of a potential deal. Musk has been careful to note that no final agreement is guaranteed, and no binding arrangements have been reached at this stage.

    With Tesla carrying a current market capitalization of approximately $1.5 trillion (£1.1 trillion) and private-market valuations placing SpaceX at roughly $2 trillion (£1.5 trillion), a merged entity would carry a combined valuation of $3.5 trillion, a figure that dwarfs any previous corporate combination. Any final transaction will require formal approval from shareholders of both companies, but Musk argues that the synergies between the two firms create significant value that can only be unlocked by combining operations.

    Industry observers say this move has been foreshadowed for months. Last week’s public unveiling of the next-generation Tesla Roadster, a high-performance electric vehicle equipped with rocket thruster technology licensed from SpaceX, served as a clear symbolic signal that the two companies were moving closer to full integration, according to David Nicholson, Chief Technology Advisor at market research firm The Futurum Group. When asked if the merger will ultimately move forward, Nicholson said: “In my opinion, 100%. It’s just a question of when.”

    Musk has framed the merger as a natural alignment of overlapping technological development. Both companies are currently advancing work in next-generation semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and advanced automation, areas where combined research and development would cut costs and accelerate innovation. The merged firm would combine Tesla’s core portfolios of electric vehicles, humanoid robotics, and autonomous driving software with SpaceX’s existing operations in rocket development, satellite infrastructure, large-scale data centers, and global satellite telecommunications.

    For Musk, the merger is also a major step toward his long-stated, deeply ambitious goal of establishing a permanently self-sustaining human city on Mars. That vision has drawn skepticism from some industry and scientific observers, but it has also attracted fierce support from many of Musk’s loyal backers and investors.

    This potential merger is part of a broader pattern of consolidation across Musk’s business holdings over the past 12 months. In the last year alone, SpaceX absorbed Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI and acquired social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, ahead of a planned public listing for those assets later this year.

    Despite broad alignment on long-term benefits, the merger faces a notable procedural hurdle: it must win approval from a majority of disinterested Tesla shareholders, a threshold Musk himself has acknowledged is “quite a high hurdle.” As CEO of both companies, Musk is barred from participating in formal shareholder deliberations to avoid conflicts of interest.

    Even with that challenge, many market analysts expect the deal will ultimately win approval in the next few years. Dan Sheehan, an investment analyst at Telos Wealth Advisors, notes that the core technologies of the two companies are highly complementary, a point that will resonate with shareholders looking for long-term growth. Sheehan added, however, that the deal will leave existing Tesla shareholders holding a smaller proportional stake in a far larger, more complex combined business. “There’s no real precedent for how a public company like Tesla gets priced in this,” he explained.

    News of the potential merger immediately moved markets: SpaceX shares climbed 8% in after-hours trading following the announcement, while Tesla shares posted a 1.5% gain. For consumers, though, experts say even a completed merger will not bring dramatic near-term changes for Tesla vehicle owners. Nicholson noted that consumer vehicles are already becoming an afterthought in the broader strategic vision, with the primary focus shifting to combining the two firms’ advanced technology capabilities.

    Tesla has already been undergoing internal strategic shifts this year. The company has reoriented its production priorities to focus on its top-selling Model 3 and Model Y lines, scaling back development and production targets for slower-selling models. It has also repurposed a portion of its California manufacturing facility to begin production of its Optimus line of humanoid robots.

    Sheehan explained that pairing Tesla’s autonomous driving algorithms and robotics platforms with SpaceX’s advanced AI work and global Starlink satellite network could ultimately produce far more capable connected vehicles over the long term. “The question is how much priority cars get inside a company increasingly driven by AI infrastructure,” he added.

    Tu Le, founder of automotive advisory firm Sino Auto Insights, noted that integrating SpaceX technology into future Tesla vehicle models, as previewed by the Roadster’s rocket thrusters, could help the company stand out in an increasingly crowded global EV market. Tesla is facing growing competitive pressure from Chinese EV maker BYD, which overtook Tesla as the world’s top-selling electric vehicle manufacturer by volume earlier this year.

    While the merger would create value for a range of stakeholders, analysts agree that Musk himself would be the most notable beneficiary. Musk, already the world’s richest person and the first individual to reach a net worth of $1 trillion earlier this year, would gain greater consolidated voting control over the combined entity than he currently holds at Tesla, a key issue that the independent committees evaluating the deal will be required to address. A single combined company would also allow Musk to implement his long-term AI strategy without navigating competing governance structures across separate firms. “The deal itself doesn’t add to Musk’s wealth, but it concentrates it further in one stock,” Sheehan explained.

    That increased concentration and influence has the potential to draw greater regulatory and public scrutiny, Nicholson warned. Musk is already a deeply polarizing figure in U.S. politics and business, and the merger could face heightened regulatory pushback if the Democratic Party, whose members have been broadly critical of Musk’s growing influence, gains additional seats in upcoming U.S. congressional elections next month.

    Historically, Tesla shareholders have supported Musk’s strategic initiatives. Last year, investors approved a record-breaking compensation package for Musk valued at approximately $1tn, a move that gave the CEO further leverage to pursue his long-term goals. Nicholson argues that Musk’s primary motivation for the merger is not personal enrichment, but advancing his core life mission: making human colonization of Mars a reality. “I honestly don’t think Musk will be keeping track of what the merger will do for his wealth,” Nicholson said.