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Lucy Bronze converts from the spot before Smilla Holmberg misses from Sweden to send England through to the semi-finals of Euro 2025 after the Lionesses won a dramatic penalty shootout 3-2.
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The rights group Cristosal says it has evacuated staff from El Salvador amid pressure from President Nayib Bukele.
The El Salvador human rights and anti-corruption watchdog Cristosal says it has relocated its operations outside the country, as the government of President Nayib Bukele intensifies its crackdown on dissenting voices.
Cristosal said on Thursday that it has suspended work in El Salvador and relocated its staff out of the country, where the group plans to continue its work in exile.
“When it became clear that the government was prepared to persecute us criminally and that there is no possibility of defence or impartial trial, that makes it unviable to take those risks anymore,” Noah Bullock, executive director of Cristosal, told the news agency Reuters, speaking from Guatemala.
The Bukele government has stepped up its targeting of organisations and figures that scrutinise the government’s record on issues such as corruption and security, threatening rights groups and independent media with what critics say are fabricated legal challenges.
Ruth Lopez, a prominent anti-corruption and justice advocate with Cristosal, was arrested on corruption charges in May and remains in detention. Her arrest has been denounced by organisations such as Amnesty International and the United Nations.
Bukele also announced a new law in May requiring non-governmental organisations that receive support from outside the country to register with the government and pay additional taxes.
Cristosal has operated in El Salvador for 25 years and has become a target of ire for Bukele with investigations into government corruption and reports on the human toll of El Salvador’s campaign of mass arrests and suspension of key civil liberties in the name of combating gang activity.
“Under a permanent state of exception and near-total control of all institutions, El Salvador has ceased to be a state of rights,” the group said in a statement on Thursday. “Expressing an opinion or demanding basic rights today can land you in jail.”
The Bukele government declared a “state of exception” in March 2022, granting the government and security forces exceptional powers and suspending key civil liberties. The government’s push has substantially reduced the influence of powerful gangs that had previously smothered life in Salvadoran cities with exploitation and violence.
Those successes have won Bukele widespread popularity, but come at a steep cost: scores of people swept into prisons without charge, held in abysmal conditions and with no means of contesting their detention. Bukele himself has also faced accusations of coordinating behind the scenes with powerful gang leaders.
While the government has boasted that violent crime has fallen to record lows and the gangs have been smashed, it has continuously renewed the exceptional powers under the state of emergency, which dissidents say are being used to target and harass human rights advocates and critics of the government.
In April 2023, the investigative news outlet El Faro also stated that it would relocate its administrative and legal operations outside the country over fears of legal harassment and surveillance, while its reporters would continue to work in El Salvador.
Brazilian president says that Donald Trump was elected to lead the US, not to be ‘the emperor of the world’.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has said that his country will not take instructions from the United States after US President Donald Trump threatened Brazil with 50 percent tariffs and called for an end to the trial of right-wing ally Jair Bolsonaro.
In an interview with CNN on Thursday, President Lula said that the tariffs have no “logic” but that he does not believe there is a “crisis” in relations between the US and his country as of yet.
“For me, it was a surprise, not only the value of that tariff, but also how it was announced, the way it was announced,” Lula said. “We cannot have President Trump forgetting that he was elected to govern the US, not to be the emperor of the world.”
The US president’s heavy-handed approach to economic relations with other countries has chafed foreign leaders such as Lula, who has expressed frustration at what he sees as Trump’s efforts to dictate terms to Brazil on matters of trade and domestic judicial proceedings.
Bolsonaro, the former president of Brazil who has close ties with Trump and his family, is currently on trial for alleged efforts to mount a coup and reverse Lula’s victory over him in the 2022 election.
Trump, who also faced legal trouble stemming from his efforts to remain in office after losing an election, has called the trial a “witch hunt” and demanded that it come to an end. He has recently done the same for another right-wing ally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The judiciary branch of power in Brazil is independent. The president of the republic has no influence whatsoever,” Lula said, stating that Bolsonaro “is not being judged personally”, but “being judged by the acts he tried to organise a coup d’etat”.
The US has also warned Brazil that it will be penalised with higher tariffs if it continues its work as a leading member of BRICS, a coalition of developing economies that have sought to promote alternatives to the US-backed global financial system.
Trump has attacked the group for “anti-Western priorities” and threatened higher tariffs for any countries involved with the bloc.
In Latin America, where the US has a long history of heavy-handed involvement in the domestic affairs of various nations, Trump’s threats and blunt use of US economic leverage have sparked anger.
“Brazil is to take care of Brazil and take care of the Brazilian people, and to take not to take care of the interests of the others,” Lula said.
“Brazil will not accept anything imposed on it. We accept negotiation and not imposition.”
Following her termination as a federal prosecutor, Maurene Comey called on her colleagues to condemn ‘abuses of power’.
Maurene Comey — the daughter of James Comey, the former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) — has condemned President Donald Trump shortly after being fired from her role as a federal prosecutor in the United States.
In a memo to colleagues obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday, Comey wrote that, if a “career prosecutor can be fired without reason, fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain”.
“Do not let that happen,” she said. “Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought.”
The memo came one day after Comey was let go from her role as an assistant US attorney in New York for the Department of Justice.
The Trump administration has not yet provided a reason for Comey’s firing. But her position had long been seen as vulnerable due to her association with her father, who oversaw an investigation into alleged collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential race.
The elder Comey was fired by Trump early in his first term, but the former FBI director has remained the subject of the president’s ire.
In congressional testimonies as well as a 2018 book, James Comey has decried Trump’s “unethical” and mafia-like approach to leadership. He has also argued that Trump’s decision to fire him was an effort to undermine the Russia investigation.
Since taking office for his second term, Trump and his allies have sought to purge Department of Justice employees involved in cases he disagreed with.
They include prosecutors who worked on special counsel Jack Smith’s prosecutions, as he pursued two federal criminal indictments against Trump: one for withholding classified documents while out of office and the other for attempting to subvert the 2020 election.
Both cases were dropped when Trump was re-elected in November 2024. It is against the Justice Department’s policies to prosecute a sitting president.
The Associated Press reported earlier this month that more career prosecutors, as well as support staff, involved in Smith’s indictment had their jobs terminated.
Critics argue that the Trump administration’s decision to fire such employees has eroded the Justice Department’s independence. Many also point out that career civil servants do not choose their cases and instead serve under whichever presidential administration is in office, regardless of politics.
In her message to colleagues, Maurene Comey urged her fellow prosecutors to use their current predicament to fight even more zealously for the fair and impartial rule of law.
“Instead of fear,” she wrote, “let this moment fuel the fire that already burns at the heart of this place.”
“A fire of righteous indignation at abuses of power. Of commitment to seek justice for victims. Of dedication to truth above all else.”
Prior to her firing, Maurene Comey had been a veteran lawyer for the Southern District of New York, often considered one of the top prosecution offices in the country.
She had most recently prosecuted Sean “Diddy” Combs, in a case that saw the music producer found guilty on charges of transportation for the purposes of prostitution, but acquitted on charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking.
She had previously worked on the successful prosecution of Ghislaine Maxwell on sex-trafficking charges connected to financier Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of underage girls.
The firing comes as Attorney General Pam Bondi faces criticism from segments of Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) base for not releasing more evidence related to Epstein, including a full accounting of his alleged “client list”.
Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan detention centre in 2019.
Some influential right-wing internet personalities, including Laura Loomer, have attacked Bondi and also called for Comey’s firing.
In addition, US media outlets have reported that the Trump administration is currently investigating James Comey and former director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) John Brennan for their probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
At the time, the US intelligence community concluded that Russia did seek to meddle in the election, but that there was not enough evidence to support the claim that the Trump campaign sought to collude with Russian agents.
Further details of the reported probe into Comey and Brennan have not emerged.
New York City, the US: Swinging around a tree mimicking the signature open-arm lean of Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, Zohran Mamdani asks, “Hey! Have you ever voted before?” An enthusiastic group of Hindi/Urdu-speaking New Yorkers respond: “Yes!”
In the June 4 video posted on X, the 33-year-old Democratic Socialist member of the New York State Assembly then explains ranked choice voting using mango lassi, a yoghurt-based drink from the Punjab region of India, amid clips from popular Bollywood films and scores.
This is just one example of the kinds of videos populating Mamdani’s social media leading up to his 56 percent win in the New York City mayoral Democratic primary on July 1.
Mamdani was relatively unknown before the primary election, polling as low as one percent in an Emerson College survey in February 2025. But his grassroots campaign mobilised a multicultural coalition of voters, in part, by speaking directly to them — in their native tongue.
The government of New York state estimates that New Yorkers speak more than 800 languages, and as many as 2.5 million struggle with communicating in English. Experts, however, say Mamdani successfully used his skills in multiple languages to appeal to voters who often are not targeted by mainstream election campaigns, highlighting policy proposals targeting voters’ biggest concerns, like affordability.
Moments after ranked-choice voting totals were finalised, Mamdani’s team posted a campaign message garnering more than 5.7 million views on X alone, explaining a five-point breakdown of “What We Won on Election Day”: Trump voters, Adams voters, new voters, coalitions and turnout.
“Most campaigns focus on ‘triple primes’ – New Yorkers who voted in the last three primaries,” said Mamdani. “But this strategy ignored most of our city. We knew we could turn them out if they saw themselves in our policies.”
Speaking between clips of himself using Hindi, Urdu and Spanish, Mamdani explained, “We ran a campaign that tried to talk to every New Yorker, whether I could speak their language or simply tried. And the coalition that came out on Tuesday reflected the mosaic of these five boroughs.”
Among the areas Mamdani won by large margins were South Asian neighbourhoods such as City Line, Ozone Park and Jamaica Hills; Latino neighbourhoods including Corona, Washington Heights, Pelham Bay and Woodhaven; and Chinese communities in Flushing, Chinatown and Bensonhurst.
A Ugandan-born South Asian Muslim immigrant himself, Mamdani speaks both Hindi and Urdu – a fluency that allowed him to extend his reach to voters through social media videos.
Soniya Munshi, associate professor in urban studies and adviser to Asian-American community studies at Queens College, told Al Jazeera that these types of videos worked as conversation starters through Bollywood references that span the decades – from the 1970s onwards – recognisable to many South Asian diasporas of different ages and with different pathways to the US.
“I saw his Hindi/Urdu video move from Instagram to text chats among second-generation South Asians to WhatsApp family threads to discussions about Zohran’s platform for an affordable NYC,” said Munshi, who herself is a second-generation South Asian New Yorker. “These videos opened up a bigger conversation with friends, families and communities about our experiences, our conditions, our own hopes for the city we call home, and they also moved voters to come out for Mamdani.”
More than half of New York City’s South Asian population is of Indian descent, but Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities have seen the most growth over the past two decades. South Asians now make up 22.5 percent of the city’s Asian population, most of them immigrants. Mamdani’s campaign materials – in Hindi, Urdu, Arabic, Bengali and other languages – spoke directly to immigrant New Yorkers about the material issues affecting their lives.
“It’s critical to note the significance of Mamdani’s videos in Hindi/Urdu and Bangla,” said Munshi. “These two communities are among those with the highest levels of limited English proficiency households, essential workers, and poverty rates of all immigrant groups in NYC … Ultimately, what made these South Asian language videos so powerful was the culturally relevant references combined with the direct message of his vision and platform.”
Chowdury Md Moshin, 68, a native of Bangladesh who now lives in Jackson Heights, sat in Travers Park on a warm late June day reading a newspaper, his stark white hair and shirt contrasting with the bright green of the swaying trees around him.
A speaker of Bengali or Bangla himself, Moshin appreciated hearing from a mayoral candidate speaking a language he understands.
“I think he will be a good mayor and will make New York City cleaner,” said Moshin. “I love him.”
In one of the videos posted during the final push before the Democratic primary election, Mamdani demonstrated ranked-choice voting with Council Member Shahana Hanif’s 39th New York City Council District, using a plate of mishti doi, a sweet yoghurt dessert from the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent.
“His Bangla-language video with Shahana Hanif, the first Bangladeshi Muslim woman to serve as city councilperson in NYC, was also significant,” said Munshi. “Bangla is not a South Asian language Mamdani is fluent in, and we see him making a good effort to speak with Hanif about the election.”
The digital agency behind this content, as well as Mamdani’s first viral video with over 3.5 million views on X, is called Melted Solids. The Brooklyn-based collective, founded in 2019 by Anthony DiMieri and Debbie Saslaw, has worked with Mamdani on various campaigns since as early as 2021.
In an interview with Adweek, Saslaw spoke to the 2025 primary, saying, “I’m [a] marketer and storyteller, and what I thought was necessary and needed in the political space was the ability to speak to regular New Yorkers, like using advertising … as a vessel to hear their concerns.”
Mara Einstein, digital marketing critic and author of Hoodwinked: How Marketers Use the Same Tactics as Cults, told Al Jazeera that, “They [Melted Solids] know him, which is why they could produce content that conveyed his specific voice.”
“They are also not a traditional agency,” added Einstein. “What Melted Solids did that was different is get rid of the red, white, and blue colour scheme that has dominated political campaigns. Purple and yellow/gold [colours used by Mamdani’s campaign for flyers, signs and branding] is striking and unexpected. The typography harkens back to grocery store signs, giving it a neighbourhood-y, everyman feel.”
For a campaign run on affordability and reaching every New Yorker, this analysis bodes well. But ultimately, experts say that Mamdani’s social media engagement performed well because his vision and platform were at the core of all of his content.
“The social media content was delightful to watch, well-produced, and engaging, but what was most important was that it had substance,” said Munshi. “It gave us something to talk about that was bigger than Mamdani as an individual or even his campaign. It activated something at a collective level.”
Outside the polls in Woodside on election day, Munshi asked an older Spanish-speaking Latina woman whom she planned to vote for. The woman reached into her purse, pulled out a worn Working Families Party flyer, and pointed to Mamdani’s face. “Him,” she said. “I like how he talks.”
“To me, this indicated that Mamdani’s communication wasn’t just about the language he is speaking in,” said Munshi. “But how he used language – clear, simple, focused, relatable to New Yorkers who are concerned with their everyday needs in this city.”
With five months until the general election, Mamdani and Melted Solids still have work to do as they face off against incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who is backed by US President Donald Trump.
But if former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo’s failed 2025 mayoral bid – backed by $25m raised by the super PAC Fix the City – is any indication, Einstein said, “No marketing, no matter how good it is, can sell a bad product. Cuomo is evidence of that.”
Barcelona reportedly in talks with DR Congo over football sponsorship deal with war-hit central African country.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) has agreed to pay more than $46.37m in a sponsorship deal with Spanish football club Barcelona that would see a logo promoting tourism appear on some team apparel, according to a contract seen by Reuters.
The contract with Barcelona, seen on Thursday by the news agency, is dated June 29 and stipulates that a logo branding the war-hit Central African country as the “heart of Africa” will appear on the backs of training and warm-up jerseys for the men’s and women’s teams.
The logo will also appear in advertising for the club and in the club magazine and annual report, the contract says.
DR Congo will pay the club between $11.6m and $13.3m annually over the next four seasons, it says.
Details of the deal between DR Congo and Barcelona have not been announced.
AS Monaco and AC Milan last month also announced sponsorship deals with DR Congo without disclosing the amounts.
DR Congo’s Sports Minister Didier Budimbu told Reuters the contract with AS Monaco is worth $1.85m per season. He did not disclose the amounts for the contracts with AC Milan or Barcelona.
A government source said the contract with AC Milan was worth $16.2m per season.
DR Congo’s Ministry of Tourism did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday, while Barcelona told Reuters they had no comment at this time.
In February, DR Congo’s Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner urged football clubs Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain to end their “blood-stained” sponsorship agreements with “Visit Rwanda”.
The appeal came less than a week after M23 rebels seized eastern DR Congo’s biggest city, Goma, as part of a lightning advance.
Rwanda denies backing M23, saying it is defending itself.
A report by a group of United Nations experts obtained by Reuters this month said Kigali exercised command and control over the rebels during their advance, gaining political influence and access to mineral-rich territory.
Current and former Facebook leadership reached the agreement with shareholders only one day into the trial.
Mark Zuckerberg and current and former directors and officers of Meta Platforms have agreed to settle claims seeking $8bn for the damage they allegedly caused the company by allowing repeated violations of Facebook users’ privacy.
Zuckerberg and his counterparts reached the agreement on Thursday with shareholders who brought the lawsuit.
The parties did not disclose details of the settlement, and defence lawyers did not address the judge, Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery. McCormick adjourned the trial just as it was to enter its second day, and she congratulated the parties.
The plaintiffs’ lawyer, Sam Closic, said the agreement just came together quickly.
Billionaire venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, who is a defendant in the trial and a Meta director, was scheduled to testify on Thursday.
Shareholders of Meta sued Zuckerberg, Andreessen and other former company officials, including former Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, in hopes of holding them liable for billions of dollars in fines and legal costs the company paid in recent years.
The Federal Trade Commission fined Facebook $5bn in 2019 after finding that it failed to comply with a 2012 agreement with the regulator to protect users’ data.
The shareholders wanted the 11 defendants to use their personal wealth to reimburse the company. The defendants denied the allegations, which they called “extreme claims”. Facebook changed its name to Meta in 2021. The company was not a defendant.
The company declined to comment. A lawyer for the defendants did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“This settlement may bring relief to the parties involved, but it’s a missed opportunity for public accountability,” said Jason Kint, the head of Digital Content Next, a trade group for content providers.
Zuckerberg was expected to take the stand on Monday and Sandberg on Wednesday. The trial was scheduled to run through the end of next week.
The case was also expected to include testimony from former Facebook board members Peter Thiel, Palantir Technologies co-founder, and Reed Hastings, co-founder of Netflix.
Meta investors alleged in the lawsuit that former and current board members completely failed to oversee the company’s compliance with the 2012 FTC agreement and claim that Zuckerberg and Sandberg knowingly ran Facebook as an illegal data harvesting operation.
The case followed revelations that data from millions of Facebook users was accessed by Cambridge Analytica, a now-defunct political consulting firm that worked for Donald Trump’s successful US presidential campaign in 2016. Those revelations led to the FTC fine, which was a record at the time.
On Wednesday, an expert witness for the plaintiffs testified about what he called “gaps and weaknesses” in Facebook’s privacy policies, but would not say if the company violated the 2012 agreement that Facebook reached with the FTC.
Jeffrey Zients, a former board member, testified on Wednesday that the company did not agree to the FTC fine to spare Zuckerberg legal liability, as shareholders allege.
On its website, the company has said it has invested billions of dollars into protecting user privacy since 2019.
The trial would have been a rare opportunity for Meta investors to see Zuckerberg answer probing questions under oath. In 2017, Zuckerberg was expected to testify at a trial involving a lawsuit by company investors opposed to his plan to issue a special class of Facebook stock that would have extended his control over that company. That case also settled before he took the stand.
“Facebook has successfully remade the ‘Cambridge Analytica’ scandal about a few bad actors rather than an unraveling of its entire business model of surveillance capitalism and the reciprocal, unbridled sharing of personal data,” Kint said. “That reckoning is now left unresolved.”
Meta stock was down 0.4 percent for the day as of 11am in New York (15:00 GMT) and 3.1 percent over the last five days.
Several people have been injured at the Holy Family Church in Gaza City, with some unconfirmed reports that it was hit by Israeli artillery shells.
Catholic Church leaders referred only to it being “struck by a raid” in a statement, but Italy’s prime minister blamed Israeli forces.
The Israeli military said it was aware of the reports of damage and casualties at the church, adding that “the circumstances of the incident are under review”.
Many displaced Christian families from the small local community have been living in the Roman Catholic church since the war began after their own homes were destroyed. While he was alive, the late Pope Francis called them on a near-daily basis.
The Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem said the Argentine parish priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli, was among those injured and denied initial reports of fatalities.
It added that the church had been damaged.
A video and photos shared with the BBC showed the roof was hit, close to the cross, and that windows were broken.
The Latin Patriarchate said it would provide additional details when they were confirmed.
A video aired on Arab TV showed Father Gabriel walking unsteadily and checking on a man on a stretcher at the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, where those injured are being treated.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni blamed Israel, saying: “The attacks against the civilian population that Israel has been carrying out for months are unacceptable.”
“No military action can justify such an attitude,” she added.
The Vatican has so far not responded to a request for comment.
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem condemned the strike, which it called a “flagrant violation of human dignity and a blatant violation of the sanctity of life and the sanctity of religious sites, which are supposed to provide a safe haven in times of war”.
It estimated that 600 displaced people were sheltering inside at the time, the majority of whom were children as well as 54 people with special needs.
The Holy Family Church falls within part of Gaza City that the Israeli military has previously told locals to leave.
Israel launched its war in Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and led to 251 others being taken hostage.
Israeli attacks have since killed more than 58,500 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The ministry’s figures are quoted by the UN and others as the most reliable source of statistics available on casualties.
She lost her pregnancy in prison in what she describes as “a miscarriage of justice”.
The experience Ayodele Bukunmi had in detention tore her heart apart and still haunts her to date. Now 23, Bukunmi was only 17 when she was thrown behind bars in Ondo State, South West Nigeria. It was October 2020, during the nationwide EndSARS protests against police brutality in the country. On her way to visit a friend in the Akoko-Akungba area, police officers waylaid and whisked her away, alongside protesters.
The police forced her to admit to obtaining flammable materials and causing riots in the state amid the #EndSARS protests, she said. After a few hours of interrogation, they locked her in a crammed cell in the Special Investigations Department of the Ondo State police. Bukunmi insisted she was just a passerby and not a participant in the protest that turned violent, yet, a month later, she was moved to the Surulere prison facility in Akure, the state capital.
For weeks, no one knew she was at the prison facility. She was held incommunicado until her boyfriend, worried about her safety, found out.
She was not alone in this situation; Kemisola Ogunbiyi was also arrested and detained in a similar fashion. Kemisola was on her way to buy drugs for her sick mother when the police picked her up, claiming she was among the #EndSARS protesters.
Kemisola and Bukunmi languished in the Surulere correctional facility with blurry hopes for justice. The duo came from different families and locations, but fate brought them together in a government confinement, where the slow justice system subjected them to torture and inhumane treatment. Interestingly, they both found out they were pregnant while in detention, begging to be given a fair hearing.
The Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) was enacted in 2015 to reform criminal procedure, promote speedy trials, and protect the rights of suspects, defendants, and victims. However, the criminal justice system in Nigeria has been criticised for being riddled with mediocrity and systemic flaws. With overcrowded correctional facilities, more than 70 per cent of inmates are detained often for years without formal charges or access to legal representation, according to media reports.
A report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) shows how indigent defendants, especially women, suffer disproportionately due to underfunded legal aid and systemic corruption. What the teenage detainees experienced at the correctional facility in Ondo confirms this report. For months, they were held in the police cell without being charged in a court. When the police raided the street and arrested them, they were framed for offences they insisted they knew nothing about. Bukunmi recalled how the officers wrote statements on their behalf, forcing them to confess to crimes they never committed. As hoodlums infiltrated the protests, burning houses and vehicles, including the All Progressive Congress (APC) secretariat, the state authorities unleashed police officers onto the streets to pick up the arsonists; Bukunmi and Kemisola, among others, were scapegoated.
“I was new to Akure at the time and knew nowhere, but they framed me and accused me of arson. They tortured me until I lost consciousness, and at the police station, they didn’t give me any chance to explain myself. I was humiliated and harassed,” Bukunmi said.
When they were finally charged in court, they had no lawyer to back them, and lost their voices before the judge. From the police station, they were moved to an all-female correctional centre in the state, where they would face another level of ill-treatment and dehumanisation.
“They gave us terrible meals – watery beans and lumpy soups. We ate rice occasionally, and our regular stew was simply hot pepper and water. No palm oil, fish, meat, the typically grounded pepper, or tomatoes,” Bukunmi told HumAngle five years later. “I faced hell in detention and still went through hell after I regained freedom.”
The prison officials were cruel and tolerated no one, Bukunmi reminisced. She was once locked in a single, dark cell for over a week, with her legs chained and hands tied for disobeying an officer. She can’t recall the officer’s name, but she described her as “very dark” and newly recruited at the time. Her offence? She hesitated to help the officer clean her shoe. The officer reported her to a superior official, who ordered her to be locked in solitary confinement. They untied her hands once a day to serve her food and water while she was serving the punishment.
“I was still pregnant at the time, and I think these could have contributed to why I had a miscarriage,” she told HumAngle. “The prison space is not for the weak; you could be on your own, and an officer would accuse you of looking at them disdainfully and punish you for no reason. I didn’t really mean to disobey the officer; I was tired and sluggish at the time, and she accused me of hesitating to clean her shoe.”
No detainee dared greet an officer standing, even if they were older, she said. “You must always greet them because if you refuse, that could be a reason to be punished. And you must speak to an officer, you must be on your knees, with your head facing down.”
The ill-treatment meted out on them, experts said, violates section 8(1) of ACJA, which mandates that all suspects be treated with dignity and prohibits inhumane or degrading treatment. The Act also encourages non-custodial sentencing, such as community service and suspended sentences, particularly for minor offences. However, implementation remains inconsistent across states, and many people are still detained in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions.
They were in and out of the courtroom for about eight months without a clear direction, until the story broke in the media in April 2021. Despite getting pro bono legal backing, the court still refused to hear their appeal, aggravating their condition in detention. This slow pace of judicial proceedings worsened their case, further violating ACJA regulations.
The ACJA had introduced reforms like day-to-day trials and limits on adjournments to reduce delays, yet courts remain overwhelmed by case backlogs. A critique published on Academia.edu points out that despite the ACJA’s innovations, poor funding, lack of training, and resistance to change have hindered its effectiveness. Vulnerable defendants often languish in detention while their cases stall, violating their constitutional right to a fair and timely trial.
Bukunmi broke the news of her pregnancy to her boyfriend, Balogun Segun, when he visited her in detention. He didn’t believe her initially, but something terrible happened two days later. She started bleeding, and her stomach wouldn’t stop aching. She lost the pregnancy to the daily stress and discomfort she witnessed at the Surulere facility. The pregnancy was four months when she had a miscarriage, leaving her in pain and anguish. Her boyfriend cried out to journalists at the time that Bukunmi had no medical attention, despite her condition.
“She is not being given any medical attention,” he complained. “In fact, the foetus inside her hasn’t been flushed out. She needs help.”
Kemisola also found out she was pregnant in detention, but she scaled through the inhumane conditions. A few months later, she delivered the baby at the facility, catching more media attention. She was one month pregnant when she was arrested and detained in October 2020; she delivered the baby in June and still spent days in detention with the newborn. Her situation sparked social media outrage, with #FreeKemisola trending. Activists and social media influencers pressured the state government until Charles Titiloye, the state’s Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, promised to intervene.
A few weeks later, Kemisola was released, gaining public sympathy and receiving donations from well-wishers. The baby was christened and celebrated by notable Nigerians such as Naomi Ogunwusi, the estranged wife of the Ooni of Ife, a first-class monarch in Osun state. Amid the media outrage over Kemisola’s case, however, Bukunmi was left in limbo with no freedom insight. The dead foetus stayed in her belly for months, making her sick. Some online sympathisers protested and moved on quickly. But her mother and boyfriend protested while speaking to journalists, expressing fears that the public might have forgotten the detainee.
“I’m afraid something might go wrong with her in prison due to her health condition,” Iyabo Ayodele, Bukunmi’s mother, lamented. “Help me beg the public not to forget her there.”
She was not allowed to visit a hospital even after complaining on several occasions that her stomach ached badly. At the prison facility, only one matron attended to their medical needs, and she was accused of handling serious issues with levity and sometimes oversimplifying complex health conditions. When she complained bitterly about her aching stomach after having a miscarriage, the matron gave paracetamol, but that changed nothing. She said she endured the pain for months, until she regained freedom.
Three months after Kemisola was released, Bukunmi regained freedom after enduring gruelling complications from the miscarriage. Her life never remained the same, even when she became free. The memory of those moments still haunts her, continually flashing through her mind, she said. When she falls deeply asleep sometimes, she said, she finds herself in a dark dungeon, weeping bitterly to be set free. Other times, she appears in dramatic scenes, dragging matters with the police in her dream.
“Even after I was released, I suffered a lot, physically and mentally. Unknown to me, the miscarriage had affected my womb. But God, time and medical efforts helped me take in the second time,” she added.
ACJA protects the rights of vulnerable women like Bukunmi and their unborn children in detention, but the reality in many Nigerian prisons is different. Section 404 of the Act states that if a pregnant woman is convicted of a capital offence, the death sentence must be suspended until after childbirth and weaning. While this provision offers some relief, it does not prevent pretrial detention of pregnant women, even for non-violent offences. One woman, Fausat Olayonu, for instance, was pregnant when she was detained for stealing a radio set worth ₦20,000. Like Bukunmi and Kemisola, she had no legal representation and had resigned to fate that her unborn child would be delivered in prison. The International Association of Women Judges reports that over 1,700 women in Nigerian prisons are awaiting trial, many of them pregnant or nursing, with limited access to medical care and legal support.
Although the ACJA provides a robust framework for reform, experts, including social justice activists and lawyers, say its impact is limited by weak enforcement and institutional malfeasances such as prolonged detention and inadequate care. Abdullahi Tijani, a lawyer and pro-freedom activist, says bridging the gap between legislation and reality requires stronger oversight, better funding for legal aid, and targeted interventions for vulnerable populations.
“Until these systemic issues are addressed, the promise of justice under the ACJA will remain largely unfulfilled,” Abdullahi argued. “No doubt, Nigeria has proper frameworks to reform its criminal justice system, but compliance is a barrier.”
Ridwan Oke, a Nigerian lawyer and criminal justice activist, says reforming the criminal justice system begins with law enforcement agents, especially the police. During the #EndSARS protest, Ridwan helped facilitate the release of several protesters randomly arrested without a thorough investigation. The legal practitioner said the police need to check their system in terms of arresting people indiscriminately and charging them with ridiculous offences not backed by evidence.
“If the police can always check themselves by not arresting indiscriminately without any evidence, the criminal justice reform becomes easier,” he urged. “Police officers are fond of arresting people indiscriminately, releasing those they can release and charging others to court before looking for evidence.”
He also advised the court to be more critical of cases presented before them, especially cases lacking basic evidence. “Now, anybody can charge anybody without any evidence. That’s bad for our criminal justice system. The court should always put people in critical check and reduce bail conditions for lesser offences so that there would be no delay in justice delivery.”
New details about last month’s Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, which killed 260 people, have emerged this week, shifting focus onto the actions of the senior pilot during the last moments before the plane crashed.
According to a report published on Wednesday by The Wall Street Journal quoting sources close to United States officials’ early assessment of evidence, the black box audio recording of the last conversation between the two pilots indicates that the captain might have turned off the switches controlling the flow of fuel to the plane’s engines.
Last week, a preliminary report by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) found that both engines had shut down within the space of one second, leading to immediate loss of altitude, before the plane crashed into a densely populated suburb of Ahmedabad. However, that report, which stated the fuel-control switches had moved to the “cutoff” position, did not assign blame for the incident.
Two groups of commercial pilots have rejected suggestions that human error may have caused the disaster.
At 1:38pm (08:08 GMT) on June 12, Air India Flight 171 took off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad for London Gatwick Airport, carrying 230 passengers, 10 cabin crew and two pilots.
About 40 seconds after taking off, both engines of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner lost power during the initial climb. The plane then crashed into the BJ Medical College Hostel in a populated suburb 1.85km (1.15 miles) from the runway.
The aircraft broke apart on impact, causing a fire that destroyed parts of five buildings. All the passengers on the plane died except one – Vishwaskumar Ramesh, a 40-year-old British national of Indian origin. Some 19 people on the ground were killed as well, and 67 were injured.
The AAIB is investigating the crash, the deadliest aviation incident in a decade, along with Boeing and experts from the US and United Kingdom. A preliminary report from the investigators released on Saturday found the aircraft had been deemed airworthy, had up-to-date maintenance and carried no hazardous cargo.
But the report noted that a 2018 US Federal Aviation Administration advisory warned of a potential flaw in the fuel-control switch system of some Boeing planes, including the Dreamliner. The report said Air India did not inspect the system and it was not mandatory for it to do so. During the crash, recovery systems activated, but only partial engine relight occurred, the report stated.
Both engines shut down just after takeoff as fuel switches moved from the “run” to “cutoff” positions. The report cited a black box audio recording in which one pilot asked, “Why did you cut off?” and the other denied doing so. The speakers were not identified.
Despite taking emergency measures, only one engine partially restarted, and moments before impact, a “Mayday” call was issued before communications were lost.
Air traffic control received no response after the distress call but saw the aircraft crash outside the boundary of the airport. CCTV footage from the airport showed one of the flight recovery systems – known as the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) – deploying shortly after liftoff, followed by a rapid descent.
Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, 56, served as the pilot-in-command on the flight. A soft-spoken veteran who had logged more than 15,600 flight hours, 8,500 of them on the Boeing 787, Sabharwal was known for his reserved nature, meticulous habits and mentorship of junior pilots.
He trained at India’s premier aviation school, the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi, and friends who spoke to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) recalled him as deeply committed to his career as a pilot as well as caring for his ageing father, a former civil aviation official.
First Officer Clive Kunder, 32, was the pilot flying the aircraft at the time of the crash while Sabharwal was the pilot monitoring.
Kunder had accumulated more than 3,400 flying hours, including 1,128 hours on the Dreamliner. Flying was his childhood dream, inspired by his mother’s 30-year career as an Air India flight attendant.
At age 19, he trained in the US and earned a commercial pilot’s licence before returning to India to join Air India in 2017.
Described by family and friends in the WSJ as joyful, curious and tech-savvy, Kunder was said to be passionate about aviation and excited to be flying the 787.
According to US officials who examined evidence from the crash and were quoted by the WSJ, the cockpit voice recording suggests it was Sabharwal who may have moved the fuel control switches to “cutoff” after takeoff, an action that cut power to both engines.
The switches were turned back on within seconds, but it was too late to regain full thrust.
As the flying pilot, Kunder would have been occupied with the climb-out, making it unlikely he could have manipulated the switches, according to unnamed US pilots quoted by the WSJ. Sabharwal, as the monitoring pilot, would have had a freer hand, they said.
Located on a key cockpit panel just behind the throttle levers between the two pilot seats, these switches manage the flow of fuel to each of the aircraft’s two engines.
Pilots use these fuel cutoff switches to start or shut down the engines while on the ground. In flight, the pilots can manually shut down or restart an engine in the event of a failure.
The switches are designed for manual operation. They are spring-loaded to stay firmly in place and cannot be moved accidentally or with light pressure during flight operations.
The switches have two settings: “cutoff” and “run”. The “cutoff” mode stops fuel from reaching the engines while “run” allows normal fuel flow. To change positions, a pilot must first pull the switch upwards before shifting it between “run” and “cutoff”.
Experts are cautious about this. US aviation analyst Mary Schiavo told the Financial Express in India that people should not draw premature conclusions, arguing that there is as yet no definitive evidence of pilot error.
She highlighted a similar incident during which one of the engines suddenly shut down midflight on an All Nippon Airways Boeing 787 during its final approach to Osaka, Japan, in 2019.
Investigators later found that the aircraft’s software had mistakenly interpreted the plane as being on the ground, triggering the thrust control malfunction accommodation system, which automatically moved the fuel switch from “run” to “cutoff” without any action from the pilots.
Schiavo warned that a similar malfunction cannot yet be ruled out in the Air India crash and stressed the importance of releasing the full cockpit voice recorder (CVR) transcript to avoid misleading interpretations.
“There is nothing here to suggest pilot suicide or murder,” she said. “The voices, words and sounds on CVRs must be carefully analysed.”
India’s Federation of Indian Pilots criticised the framing of the preliminary findings in the media this week.
In a public statement, the federation noted that the report relies heavily on paraphrased CVR excerpts and lacks comprehensive data.
“Assigning blame before a transparent, data-driven investigation is both premature and irresponsible,” the statement read before adding that it undermines the professionalism of the crew and causes undue distress to their families.
Campbell Wilson, chief executive of Air India, this week urged staff not to make premature conclusions about the causes of the crash, telling them this week that the investigation was “far from over”.
Four years after his last fight ended in a disappointing loss, the legendary Manny Pacquiao is back in the ring and challenging for another world title.
The 46-year-old will face WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios on Saturday – but questions remain as to whether Pacquiao, widely regarded as one of the best boxers in history, can mount a serious challenge at such an advanced age.
Here’s what you need to know about the living legend’s boxing comeback against Barrios:
Pacquiao, a Hall of Famer boxer, shrugged off concerns about his comeback and says he understands the risks of reentering the ring against a competitor like Barrios: A man 16 years his junior, 16cm (6.3in) taller, and the two-time reigning WBC welterweight title holder at the peak of his powers.
“I’m coming back because boxing is my passion,” Pacquiao said in an interview with ESPN. “It’s all I think about, and I really like to make history.”
The Filipino icon says this is not a one-off fight but rather a first step in an extended return to boxing. Pacquiao claims his motivation to fight again is primarily about preserving his competitive legacy rather than money.
“I’m worried for my reputation,” Pacquiao said in an interview with the BBC. “But I’m making sure that I’m not a kind of fighter like other fighters that come back but they are not showing what they did before.”
A loss for Pacquiao against Barrios would likely be the final nail in the coffin of a superlative boxing career.
A win would be a 13th world championship for the charismatic fighter and add to his already stellar boxing resume.
Broader medical concerns over middle-aged boxers reentering the ring, especially after a long lay-off, have been raised, although medical checks were made on the fighters in the lead-up to the bout.
The fight is scheduled for Saturday, July 19.
Pacquiao and Barrios are expected to undertake their ring walks at 8pm (03:00 GMT on Sunday). The fight will begin shortly thereafter.
The main undercard begins at 5pm (00:00 GMT on Sunday).
Pacquiao vs Barrios will take place at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
The venue can host more than 16,000 spectators, making it one of the largest boxing venues in the United States.
The American is the clear bookmakers’ favourite to retain his world championship title.
“In so many of my fights I was the underdog, and I surprised them… Manny always brings surprises,” Pacquiao said.
The Filipino living legend has won 12 major world championships.
He is the only competitor to win world titles in eight different weight divisions, more than any other boxer in history.
His longevity in the sport is equally legendary as the only fighter to capture or retain world titles across four different decades: The 1990s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s.
In June, Pacquiao was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, becoming the third Filipino boxer to receive the honour.
Pacquiao’s last professional fight was a decision loss against Cuban boxer Yordenis Ugas in 2021 for the WBA world welterweight championship.
His last professional win was six years ago against Keith Thurman, when he became the oldest welterweight champion in history.
The 30-year-old American will be defending the WBC title for the second time.
His last fight was a split draw decision against Abel Ramos on November 15.
Pacquiao, who turns 47 in December, feels rejuvenated after four years away from the ring and said he was returning for another opportunity to make history.
“I’m enjoying training camp as much as I did when I was 26 or 29 years old. The motivation to train hard and the discipline are the same,” Pacquiao said at Wednesday’s news conference.
“I mean, it’s because I’ve been away from boxing why I’m still interested and passionate about fighting.
“I cannot imagine that I am still fighting here in the Grand Arena after 24 years. It’s a blessing, a favour from God, and I’m so thankful to be here, still fighting and putting on a good show for the fans,” he said.
“Manny has been doing this his whole life and understands what it takes to go in there,” Barrios said. “And he’s trying to be great. He’s trying to do something, fighting for a title at his age – and as a fighter, I have nothing but respect for that.
“You know, Manny is a very likeable person. I can’t think of anything bad to say about him other than, you know, he’s facing me for my title.
“At the end of the day, he’s just another man in there. He’s another opponent trying to take my title, regardless of everything he’s accomplished and given to the sport,” Barrios added on Wednesday.
The prize money has not been disclosed.
It has been reported that Pacquiao will make up to $5m for this bout – in line with similar payments in his last two fights – with Barrios earning up to $1m.
IT’S FIGHT WEEK! #PacquiaoBarrios | July 19 | PBC PPV on @PrimeVideo pic.twitter.com/m49gXGaJfh
— Manny Pacquiao (@MannyPacquiao) July 14, 2025
This whole fight card will be available live on Prime Video pay-per-view.
This summer in Western Europe, there is constant talk of “unprecedented heatwaves”. According to the media, authorities are working hard to help people cope with and protect themselves from the adverse effects of sweltering temperatures.
As someone in Gaza, it is hard not to be grimly amused by this panic.
After all, as temperatures began to rise, my homeland – at least what remains of it – has been transformed into an open-air furnace.
Now, in the middle of another hot, humid Mediterranean summer, we don’t even have the bare minimum to shield ourselves from the heat. I read report after report advising Europeans to stay indoors, stay hydrated, use sun cream and avoid strenuous outdoor activity. Meanwhile, we in Gaza have no homes, no water, no shade and no escape.
We cannot “limit outdoor activity” because everything we need to survive is outside: water trucks that may come twice a week if we’re lucky, food distributions, firewood to scavenge. We cannot “stay hydrated” because water is scarce, rationed and often polluted. And sunscreen? We would sooner find medicine on Mars.
Summer in Gaza used to be a season of joy with beach days, courtyard gardens, a breeze under the trees. But the ongoing Israeli onslaught has turned it into a season of torment. The beaches are blockaded. The courtyards are rubble. The trees are ash. Israel has flattened most of Gaza, turning soil into dust, parks into deserts and cities into graveyards. Gaza is now a shadeless city.
The heat itself has become a silent killer. But Gaza’s deadly summer is not natural. It is not just another consequence of climate change either. It is Israel’s making. The endless bombing has created greenhouse gas emissions and thick layers of dust and pollutants. Fires burn unchecked. Garbage piles rot in the sun. Farmland is razed. What was once a climate crisis is now climate cruelty, engineered by military force.
The irony is bitter: Europe blames its heatwaves on a meteorological “heat dome”, a bubble of trapped hot air. But Israel has trapped us in another kind of dome: overcrowded nylon tents that act like ovens in the sun. These camps are not shelters – they are slow-cooking chambers. They trap heat, stink, fear and grief. And we, the displaced, have nowhere else to go.
Summer is no longer a season I look forward to. It is a dilemma I endure. The sun hangs overhead like a sentence. It scorches the ground beneath my feet so that even my slippers burn. I cannot stay inside the tent during the day. It is too hot to breathe. But I cannot be outside for long either. I must go. I must wait in long lines for water, then again for food – under a sun so punishing I fear sunstroke as much as starvation.
We are told to queue with discipline, but how can you queue when your body is faint and your child is hungry? I push forward through crowds, not out of greed, but desperation. I scavenge for fuel – wood, plastic, anything to burn. I return to my tent only to collapse into more heat.
The nights offer no mercy. With most of Gaza’s population now crammed near the coastline, the tents radiate heat back at each other. Unlike the earth, they do not cool after sunset. They store the suffering. I feel my neighbours’ breath, their sweat, their sorrow as if the heat itself is contagious. Insects swarm us in waves, drawn to the warmth. My mother and sister swat them away as if they were the bombs we can still hear in the distance.
Living in a tent for a second summer should make it easier. It doesn’t. It makes it worse.
Last summer, after being displaced from our home in eastern Khan Younis, we at least had some food variety. There were still deliveries of aid. We could still cook. But since March 2 when Israel blocked humanitarian aid again, we have descended into engineered starvation.
The United States and Israel now stage a grotesque theatre called the “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation” to distribute flour. They place sacks of flour inside metal cages as if we are livestock. People are forced to queue for hours under an open sky, stripped of shade and dignity. Soldiers scream at them to take off their hats, lie face down on blazing asphalt, crawl for food. After all that, you might still leave empty-handed – if you’re not shot first.
They have lowered the bar of our existence. We no longer ask for safety or shelter. We ask only: Do we have enough food to last the day?
Israel has combined every tool of deprivation: heat without shade, thirst without water, hunger without hope. There is no electricity to run desalination or pumping stations. No fuel to chill the little water that comes. No flour, no fish, no markets. For many of us, this summer could be our last.
This is not a climate crisis. This is weather used as a weapon – a war waged not only with bombs and bullets but also with heat, thirst and slow death. Gaza is not just burning – it is being suffocated under a man-made sun. And the world watches, calls it a “conflict” and checks the forecast.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
Arsenal did not want to sit still after winning the Women’s Champions League and vowed to strengthen their squad.
This is an eye-catching recruit that does just that with Smith widely considered one of the WSL’s most exciting youngsters, with a high ceiling of potential.
She brings pace and directness to Arsenal’s attacking line-up and has already proven herself in the WSL with a successful season at Liverpool.
There has been longstanding interest in Smith from Arsenal, who were beaten to her signature by Liverpool in 2024, and they have always been ready to spend should they need to.
The Reds have made a profit of almost £800,000 after breaking their club record last summer to sign Smith, and they will see this as good business despite losing one of the world’s brightest young talents.
Liverpool managing director Andy O’Boyle rejected several bids until £1m was presented. The £1m payment will be made in instalments to allow Liverpool to invest gradually.
The club hope to use this money to strengthen the squad in several areas this season.
There is also a sell-on clause, so Liverpool will benefit from any future sale.
Smith had several suitors but it is believed she was impressed by Arsenal’s recruitment presentation.
Having left home as a teenager to play professional football in Portugal, then leap up to the WSL, all by the age of 20, Arsenal think she has proven her character and ability to be part of an elite squad.
The Syrian government has announced that local leaders will take control of security in the southern city of Suwayda in an attempt to defuse violence that has killed hundreds of people and triggered Israeli military intervention.
Syrian forces had entered Suwayda, reportedly to oversee a ceasefire after deadly clashes between Druze fighters and local Bedouin tribes killed more than 350 people, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.
Witnesses, however, reported that government forces had aligned with Bedouin groups in attacks against Druze fighters and civilians.
Israel carried out deadly strikes on Syria on Wednesday, including on its army headquarters in Damascus, saying they were aimed at defending Syria’s Druze minority. It threatened to intensify its attacks unless Syrian government forces withdrew from the south.
On Wednesday, Syria announced its army’s withdrawal from Suwayda while the United States – Israel’s close ally working to rebuild Syrian relations – confirmed an agreement to restore calm, urging all parties to honour their commitments.
Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa announced on Thursday in a televised address that security responsibility in Suwayda would transfer to religious elders and local factions “based on the supreme national interest”.
“We are eager to hold accountable those who transgressed and abused our Druze people because they are under the protection and responsibility of the state,” he said.
Before government intervention, Druze fighters largely maintained control of their areas.
Al-Sharaa emphasised to the Druze community that it is “a fundamental part of the fabric of this nation. … Protecting your rights and freedom is one of our priorities.”
Al-Sharaa blamed “outlaw groups” whose leaders “rejected dialogue for many months” of committing the recent “crimes against civilians”.
He claimed the deployment of forces from the Ministries of Defence and Interior had “succeeded in returning stability” despite Israel’s intervention, which included bombings in southern Syria and Damascus.
Israel, with its own Druze population, has positioned itself as a protector of the Syrian minority although analysts suggested this may justify its military objective of keeping Syrian forces away from their shared border.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed concern about the Israeli bombings on Wednesday, stating, “We want it to stop.”
Rubio later announced on X that all parties had “agreed on specific steps that will bring this troubling and horrifying situation to an end”, adding that implementation was expected without detailing specifics.
Al-Sharaa praised US, Arab and Turkish mediation efforts for preventing further escalation.
“The Israeli entity resorted to a wide-scale targeting of civilian and government facilities,” he said, adding that it would have triggered “large-scale escalation, except for the effective intervention of American, Arab and Turkish mediation, which saved the region from an unknown fate”.
He did not specify which Arab nations participated in the mediation.
Turkiye strongly supports Syria’s new leaders, and Arab states, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia, have also demonstrated backing for the new government.
Tensions are palpable in the West African nation of Togo as highly anticipated local government elections are being held following weeks of angry protests calling for leader Faure Gnassingbe to resign.
Although small, Togo commands weight as a developing maritime and transit hub in the region because of an important port in the seaside capital, Lome, which is perched on the edge of the Atlantic. The country serves as a gateway into inland Sahel nations and is also home to a major West African airline, meaning unrest there could reverberate across the region.
Voters heading out to cast their ballots on Thursday, July 17, are expected to elect leaders of the country’s 117 municipalities, amid a heavier-than-usual security presence and shuttered land borders.
At the same time, demonstrators have scheduled protests in the capital, Lome, to intentionally clash with the date of the vote, prompting fears of possible widespread violence.
Led largely by the country’s youth population, antigovernment demonstrations erupted in June after a controversial constitutional change. Protests have been met with brute force from Togolese security forces; at least seven people have died, local rights groups say. The protests are only the latest in the restive country, where more frequent demonstrations in recent years are pressuring the decades-long dynastic government.
Here’s what to know about the current political situation in Togo:
Large demonstrations have been held in Lome in recent years, with Togolese calling for Gnassingbe, who has led the country since 2005, to step down.
Between 2017 and 2018, thousands of protesters took to the streets in demonstrations tagged “Faure Must Go” and “Togo stands up”. The uprising rocked the nation of four million and resulted in violent crackdowns from security officials. The government thereafter banned public demonstrations for “security reasons”.
Although officially a democracy, Togo operates in practice as a militarised state, with the army heavily involved in politics. The capital is crawling with stern-faced, armed gendarmes who are often accused of arresting and torturing dissidents.
This year’s bout of protests was triggered after popular rapper and TikToker Tchala Essowe Narcisse, popularly known as Aamron, was arrested for publishing a video where he called for protests to mark the president’s June 6 birthday.
However, anger had been simmering over the high costs of living in the country, and particularly, over new constitutional reforms that opposition leaders and civil society organisations say could see Gnassingbe rule for life. Thursday’s municipal elections will be the first polls held under the new reforms.
First approved in April 2024 by a parliament dominated by the governing Union pour le Republic (UNIR) party, the constitutional amendment swapped the presidential system in the country for a parliamentary one.
Controversially, though, it also introduced a new all-powerful position: President of the Council of Ministers. The role essentially regains all the powers of a president and is without clear official limits. Opposition leaders argued at the time that it would allow Gnassingbe to appoint a dummy president and remain the de facto leader until at least 2030. They called it a “constitutional coup”.
On May 3 this year, Gnassingbe was sworn into the new executive role, as critics predicted. Politician Jean-Lucien Savi de Tove, 86, is now president, and is the oldest in Togo’s history.
In late June, thousands of demonstrators poured into the streets of Lome in anger, calling for Gnassingbe to step down from office after rapper Aamron’s arrest and alleged torture. Protesters set up barricades and hurled stones at security forces, who responded with force, firing tear gas canisters into the crowd, according to reporting by the Reuters news agency.
Le Front Citoyen Togo Debout, a coalition of 12 civil society and human rights groups, accused security officials of arbitrarily arresting civilians, beating them with batons and ropes, and stealing and destroying private property.
At least seven people were discovered dead in the aftermath of the protests, according to the coalition, including two minors. Their bodies were discovered days after the demonstrations in various lagoons and lakes around Lome.
Meanwhile, a Togolese government statement said the deaths were caused by drowning and cautioned residents living near water bodies to be extra careful in the current rainy season.
The ‘Don’t Touch My Constitution’ movement demanded an international investigation into the claims, while Togo’s Catholic Bishops said the levels of violence were “unacceptable and unjustified”.
Just days after his father died in 2005, Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe was hurriedly installed as the country’s president by the army, extending decades of his family’s rule over Togo.
Despite outrage in the country, which led to widespread protests in which at least 500 people were killed, the younger Gnassingbe did not relinquish power and went on to organise and win elections that year, which many critics called a ruse.
His father, the late Gnassingbe Eyadema, seized power in a military coup and ruled the country with a tight fist for 38 years (1967-2005), making him the longest-serving African ruler at the time he died. His “rule of terror” was characterised by a one-party system and deadly repression of dissent, according to Amnesty International. The younger Gnassingbe, while having fostered multi-party rule and infrastructural development in the country, appears to be angling for his father’s record, critics say.
Combined, the father-son duo has commandeered Togo for 58 years. With 60 percent of the population under 35, most Togolese have never experienced life under a different political administration.
Gnassingbe has won every election since 2005. In 2019, in an attempt to circumvent demonstrations calling for his resignation, parliament ushered in constitutional amendments that, the government argued, automatically reset Gnassingbe’s terms. That allowed him to run for the 2020 and 2025 presidential elections.
At first glance, the latest reforms from 2024 appear to acquiesce to what some critics have been demanding: A weakened president elected by the parliament for a single six-year term, rather than an all-powerful leader.
However, what most did not see coming was that Gnassingbe would be appointed to a more powerful position.
As tensions simmer, demonstrators and civil society accuse Togolese officials of targeting protest leaders, many of whom are living in exile in neighbouring countries, as well as France and the United States.
Last week, the government issued international arrest warrants targeting those believed to be leading organisers, especially members of the M66 Citizens’ Movement – a political collective of bloggers and activists, named after Gnassingbe’s June 6 birthday date. Officials say the group is “inciting unrest and terrorism” in the country.
“The countries where these individuals reside are urged to cooperate,” Security Minister Calixte Madjoulba said at a news briefing. “Wherever they are, we will pursue them.”
M66 members called for renewed protests on July 16 and 17 in a bid to boycott the municipal elections, which form part of a wider push by the government to devolve power at the centre and attempt to improve local governance. Local elections were not held between 1986 and 2020, as the government kept postponing them. Instead, the central authorities designated special administrators who critics say served the government’s interests.
Some opposition leaders have also called for boycotts, although Jean-Pierre Fabre, leader of the main opposition National Alliance for Change, told reporters this week that taking part in the vote was necessary to show Togolese what’s possible.
“The elections will not change anything in this country and we know it very well,” Zaga Bambo, a France-based music artist who claims to be a member of the group, said in a Facebook post. Bambo also dismissed the arrest warrants, telling French media channel RFI that he was unfazed by it.
Activist Farida Nabourema echoed calls for boycotts on social media platform X. “You participate, you lose, you cry out, then you fall silent. And every five years, you start over,” she wrote.
The UK jobs market has weakened further as the number of job vacancies continues to fall and wage growth slows, according to official statistics.
The annual rate of pay growth in the three months between March and May was 5%, the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show.
Meanwhile, the number of vacancies has fallen again to 727,000, marking three continuous years of falling job openings.
The ONS said survey data suggested that some firms may not be recruiting new workers or replacing ones who have left.
The number of job vacancies is now at its lowest in 10 years, excluding the plunge seen during the pandemic when lockdowns stopped firms from hiring.
Alongside falling job openings, the unemployment rate has risen to 4.7%, the highest for four years, although the ONS has said this data needs to be treated with caution due to problems with how it is collected.
The labour market data is one of things the Bank of England will look at next month when it decides whether or not to cut interest rates.
It may choose to cut rates to boost the labour market or raise them to reduce inflation by encouraging less spending. Most economists are predicting a cut.
Earlier this week, in an interview with the Times, the Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey indicated there could be larger cuts to interest rates if the jobs market showed signs of slowing down.
At least 50 people have been killed and injured in a huge fire at a hypermarket in Kut city in eastern Iraq, the INA state news agency has reported, quoting the province’s governor.
Videos on social media showed flames engulfing a five-storey building in Kut overnight, where firefighters were trying to contain the fire.
The Wasjit province governor Mohammed al-Mayahi said the fire broke out in a hyper market and a restaurant. Families were having dinner, shopping when fire broke out, he said.
Firefighters rescued a number of people and put out fire, the governor added.
Three days of mourning have been announced and an investigation has been launched. Investigation results will be released within 48 hours.
“A tragedy and a calamity have befallen us,” the governor said.
“We have filed lawsuits against the owner of the building and the mall,” INA quoted the governor as saying.
More to come…
What started as a local conflict in southern Syria between local Druze and Bedouin communities over the weekend escalated on Wednesday into Israel bombing Syria’s Ministry of Defence and other targets in the capital Damascus.
At least three people were killed in the Damascus attacks, the Syrian Ministry of Health said. Other Israeli air attacks on Wednesday hit the southwestern provinces of Suwayda and Deraa.
Suwayda – where the majority of the population are members of the Druze religious group – had been the epicentre of the violence in recent days. Israel had already struck Syrian government forces there earlier this week.
Israeli officials claim their attacks on Syria aim to protect the Druze community in Suwayda, where scores of people have been killed in clashes involving local armed groups, as well as government forces.
However, local activists and analysts say Israel is fueling internal strife in Suwayda by continuing to bomb Syria – as it has done repeatedly since former President Bashar al-Assad was overthrown in December. And Israel has continued to attack Syrian government forces, despite ceasefire agreements between some Druze leaders and the Syrian authorities.
“Not only is Israel now painting the entire [Druze] community as pro-Israel, but they are painting them as supporting Israel’s bombardment of Damascus,” said Dareen Khalifa, an expert on Syria and a senior adviser with International Crisis Group.
The recent violence in Suwayda began after Bedouin armed groups kidnapped a Druze trader on the road to Damascus on July 11, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a United Kingdom-based monitor.
The abduction quickly turned into more widespread violence between the two communities – which have a longstanding rivalry due to land disputes – eventually dragging in Syrian government forces.
Syria’s new government has been attempting to impose its authority after a 14-year civil war and the end of half a century of al-Assad family rule. However, it has found it difficult to do so in Suwayda, partly because of Israel’s repeated threats against the presence of any government forces in the province, which borders the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Suwayda’s Druze initially welcomed the deployment of government forces following the weekend’s violence, but clashes soon began between some Druze fighters and those forces, with reports of the latter carrying out human rights abuses, according to civilians, local monitors and analysts.
The actions committed by members of the security forces – acknowledged as “unlawful criminal acts” by the Syrian presidency – have given Israel a pretext to bombard Syria in an attempt to keep the country weak and divided, as well as to pander to its own Druze citizens who serve in the Israeli army, experts say.
“From the Israeli perspective – and how they view Syria and how Syria should be – they prefer a weak central government and for the country to be governed and divided into sectarian self-governing enclaves,” said Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi, an expert on Syria who has extensively researched local dynamics in Suwayda.
Al-Tamimi added that reactions in Suwayda have been mixed regarding Israel’s conduct, which speaks to the lack of trust many in the province have in the new government in Damascus – which is led by members of Syria’s Sunni majority, many of whom, including President Ahmed al-Sharaa, were members of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a former affiliate of al-Qaeda.
Civilians in Suwayda said that part of the distrust stems from the government’s failure to hold fighters accountable for either allowing or partaking in the killing of hundreds of Alawites on Syria’s coast in March.
Alawites belong to an offshoot of Shia Islam, a sect that al-Assad and his family hailed from. The government has launched an investigation into the fighting, in which more than 200 Syrian government security personnel were also killed after attacks by pro-Assad forces, with the findings expected in October.
Government forces have been accused of carrying out human rights abuses in Suwayda, including carrying out “field executions,” according to SOHR and other local monitors.
“I personally wanted the government forces to restore order, but not like this,” said Fareed*, a young man from the Druze community.
The local outlet Suwayda24 reported that fighters believed to be linked to the government executed nine unarmed civilians after raiding a family compound on July 15.
Al Jazeera’s verification unit, Sanad, confirmed the reports.
Written questions were sent to Uday al-Abdullah, an official at Syria’s Ministry of Defence, asking him to respond to accusations that government forces carried out execution-style killings.
He did not respond before publication.
However, on Wednesday, the Syrian Health Ministry said that dozens of bodies had been found in Suwayda’s National Hospital, including security forces and civilians.
Ceasefires have been repeatedly agreed between Druze factions and the Syrian government. The most recent, on Wednesday, included an agreement that Suwayda be fully integrated into the Syrian state, according to Youssef Jarbou, a Druze leader.
However, as in the case of a ceasefire agreed on Tuesday, Israel has continued to attack.
What’s more, several Druze religious and armed factions retreated from the Tuesday ceasefire primarily because government forces continued to carry out violations in Suwayda, according to al-Tamimi.
During the civil war, clerics and armed Druze factions were able to negotiate de facto autonomy while repelling attacks by groups such as ISIL (ISIS).
After al-Assad fell in December 2024, one notable Druze religious leader, Hikmat al-Hijri, demanded that the new authorities in Damascus change the constitution to ensure greater regional autonomy for Suwayda and secularisation.
His position had significant backing, but not the majority, said al-Tamimi.
“His specific position – that the government needed to rewrite the constitution – was not the majority position in Suwayda,” he told Al Jazeera, saying there were pragmatists willing to engage with the government to safeguard a degree of autonomy and integrate with the new authorities.
“[But after these government violations], al-Hijir’s positions will likely enjoy more sympathy and support,” al-Tamimi warned.
As fighting continues in al-Suwayda, al-Hijri has controversially called on the international community to protect the Druze in Syria.
Critics fear that his call is a veiled request for Israeli intervention, a position that many people in Suwayda disagree with.
Samya,* a local activist who is living in a village several kilometres away from where the clashes are unfolding, said Israel’s attacks make her “uncomfortable” and that she doesn’t support intervention.
At the same time, she said she is increasingly worried that government forces will raid homes, endangering civilians.
“We don’t know what to expect,” she told Al Jazeera.
“We don’t know who may come to our house and who that person will be, and what he might ask us once he enters. We don’t know how that person or soldier might treat us, you know? So, there is fear. Honestly, we are all really terrified,” she added.
Al-Tamimi warned that Israel’s discourse of “protecting” the Druze of Syria could exacerbate internal strife, leading to collective punishment.
“[What Israel is doing] is inflaming sectarian tension, because it gives fuel to the suggestions that Druze are secretly working with Israel to divide the country,” he said.
Some names have been changed to protect sources from reprisal
At least 21 Palestinians were killed at a US-run Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid distribution site. GHF blamed armed “agitators” for the crush. Footage shows scores of people being rushed to the hospital, including numerous children.
Published On 16 Jul 202516 Jul 2025
Royal correspondent
PA MediaThe Duke of Sussex has followed in the footsteps of his mother, Princess Diana, as he visited a charity clearing landmines in Angola.
“Children should never have to live in fear of playing outside or walking to school,” said Prince Harry, about the continuing threat of mines to the civilian population.
Prince Harry was in Angola supporting the work of the Halo Trust, the charity that had been backed by Princess Diana on her high-profile visit to the Central African country in 1997.
The image of the princess walking through a minefield, in a visor and body armour, had brought worldwide attention to the danger caused by mines left behind after wars had ended.
PA MediaPrince Harry visited a village near to a minefield and met children who are given lessons in how to avoid detonating the explosives.
The Halo Trust has cleared 120,000 landmines in Angola, left over from years of civil war.
An estimated 60,000 people have been killed or injured by mines in the country since 2008 and about a thousand minefields are still to be cleared.
“The remnants of war still threaten lives every day,” said Prince Harry, patron of the Halo Trust.
He also spent time with the British charity during a visit to Angola in 2019 when he walked through a partially-cleared minefield and set off a controlled explosion.
Earlier this week, Prince Harry met Angola’s President Joao Lourenco, where the prince welcomed the government’s renewed support for the charity’s work.
James Cowan, the Halo Trust’s chief executive, said: “We will continue our work in solidarity with the Angolan people until every last mine is cleared.”
PA MediaIn January 1997, Princess Diana had been photographed in Angola in what became a symbolic image of the efforts to stop the harm to civilians from landmines.
She had walked on a path cleared through a minefield and had given her support to calls for an international ban on the use of landmines.
That had sparked a row, with the princess being criticised by some politicians for her views.
But the minefield where she had walked in 1997 was cleared and the site is now a thriving community, with local children attending the Princess Diana School.
