United States President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to halt the funding and promotion of gender transitions for LGBTQ youth. In his order signed on Tuesday, Trump said the federal government would no longer “fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support” gender transitions – also referred to as gender-affirming care – for those aged…
The United States has revoked the personal security detail and security clearance of former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley. The Pentagon announced on Tuesday that US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has also ordered an inquiry into the conduct of the ex-army head, who has earned the ire of the newly…
The military governments of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have withdrawn from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The formal withdrawal was announced by the Nigeria-based regional bloc in a statement on Wednesday. Amid a series of coups, struggles with Muslim armed groups, and competition between Russia and the West for influence in…
Israel orders the UN Relief and Works Agency, the backbone of Palestinian humanitarian aid, to cease operations by Thursday. Several countries have told the United Nations Security Council that they “deeply deplore” the Israeli parliament’s decision to “abolish” the operations of the UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem,…
Polls are under way in Belarus for a presidential election, with longtime leader Alexander Lukashenko expected to extend his more than three decades in power in the absence of any real opposition. Voters began casting their ballots at 8am local time (05:00 GMT) on Sunday in the country’s first presidential vote since Lukashenko crushed mass protests against…
Here is the situation on Sunday, January 26: Fighting Ukrainian forces downed 50 of 72 drones launched by Russia overnight. It said nine drones were “lost”, in reference to Ukraine’s use of electronic warfare to redirect Russian drones, while one is still in Ukrainian airspace. Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its air defence systems destroyed…
The Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have engaged in fighting near al-Jili oil refinery, north of the capital Khartoum. The Sudanese army said it reached the vicinity of the strategically important refinery on Wednesday, following a multipronged offensive north of Khartoum, with reports of direct clashes with the RSF. Witnesses reported plumes…
Limbe, Cameroon & Eket, Nigeria — It’s just before 3pm on a weekday and 17-year-old Paul Ngwa* is returning home from his job at a phone and watch repair workshop in Limbe, a coastal town in the southwest region of Cameroon. Tired and sweaty, he gets ready to head out to his second job as a…
. The military governor of North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has died from injuries sustained during fighting on the front line, local authorities say, as M23 rebel fighters close in on the provincial capital, Goma. The circumstances around the death of Major General Peter Cirimwami were unclear, but Cirimwami, who led army…
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is severing diplomatic ties with Rwanda and the United Nations Security Council has called an emergency meeting as the fighting between the Congolese army and the M23 armed group intensifies. The three-year-old M23 rebellion in DRC’s mineral-rich east has intensified this month, with the rebels seizing control of more…
