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Amid the geopolitical reconfiguration, Russia’s invaluable support for multitude engagement with African countries and integration associations across the continent were aspects of the significant theme thoroughly discussed at the 4th “Russia-Africa Forum: What Next?” and the inaugural Forum of Young Diplomats Russia-Africa from 22nd-25th April, 2025, at the Moscow University of International Affairs (MGIMO), and that week-long event included a plenary session, roundtables, expert and panel discussions, business games, and many others in hybrid format.

As anticipated, the week-long activities, in their totality, gave a new impetus to strengthening Russian-African youth cooperation. More or less, it thus contributed to the preparation of the next second Russia-Africa Foreign Ministers Forum this fall, as well as the third Russia-Africa Summit.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated, in a video message, that the second ministerial conference of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum would take place in one of the African countries in 2025, while the third Russia-Africa summit is planned for 2026. Without a doubt, Russia has set the course for comprehensive interaction with Africa. It has created a new specialized department dedicated to partnership with Africa within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which underscores the importance Russia places on this diplomatic priority.

Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that Russian-African relations are on the rise, and Moscow would continue to help reinforce the continent’s position as an independent center of power in the emerging multipolar world order. Further, he explained that Russia endorses the desire of Africans to play an active role in world affairs. According to Sergey Lavrov, there would be more efforts toward practical cooperation in trade and economic spheres, which would continue to help Africans in their quest to possess advanced technologies in order to strengthen their political and economic sovereignty. 

Russian Special Presidential Envoy for the Middle East and Africa, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mikhail Bogdanov, highlighted the potential of organizing a Youth Day within the framework of these meetings, calling the initiative promising. “Today, our country is firmly committed to the comprehensive strengthening of relations with African countries and their regional integration bodies. We look forward to aiming at elevating Russian-African cooperation to a new and higher level,” Mikhail Bogdanov stated.

Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzya, said at the plenary session that African countries were taking steps, in the face of current drastic changes, to ensure their political freedom and sovereignty. In a video message to the participants, Nebenzya attributed the multiple crisis situations in many African countries predominantly as a consequence of long years of colonial dependence and consistent opposition to the manifestation of neo-colonial practices in Africa.

Vasily Nebenzya recalled that Russia, in its turn, consistently opposes modern practices of neocolonialism. “Trust in the collective West as a partner is declining everywhere, and there is a growing demand for fundamental changes in the modern system of international relations. Examples of successful cooperation on independent multilateral platforms, such as the Non-Aligned Movement, are multiplying,” he emphasized.

In order to bridge the information gap, Russia’s TASS news agency intends to strengthen its presence in African countries, according to the news agency’s Deputy Director General Mikhail Petrov. So far, compared to the Soviet period, the TASS news agency does not maintain such a large-scale presence in Africa — it currently works in only six African countries. That, however, Mikhail Petrov also highlighted the contributions of TASS First Deputy Director General Mikhail Gusman to fostering media ties with Africa, noting his long-running interview series Formula of Power. This allows African partners to better understand Russia with Africa and gives indications of building more productive interactions in the near future. The news agency was the general media partner during the Russia-Africa summits in 2019 and 2023.

The discussions on issues, such as the fight against neo-colonial practices to technological and sanctions challenges, continued in 2024 during a media forum held with TASS support on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit. “Such a multimedia dialogue, in our opinion, helps promote cooperation in other areas as well and builds mutual trust, which should form the foundation of sound and effective collaboration,” Deputy Director General Mikhail Petrov concluded his discussions with participants at the Moscow-based MGIMO University.

Africa is the continent of the future, and the future is created by young people. This applies fully to foreign policy. Therefore, the Russia-Africa Forum of Young Diplomats is an initiative by the Council of Young Diplomats of the Russian Foreign Ministry. Such a meeting fits in well with numerous MGIMO initiatives devoted to Africa, such as Africa in the Focus of Russian Interests, School of Young Africanists on Food Security, Africa Week, and the MGIMO Model African Union. 

In order to provide a multifaceted field of activity with the necessary resources, the Department for Partnership with Africa was created at the Foreign Ministry in January 2025. Its functions include promoting political, economic, scientific, educational, and cultural ties with the African integration associations. In conclusion, it is worth remembering that Russian-African friendship and partnership have a long history: in the past century, Russia selflessly helped Africans in their courageous struggle for freedom and independence. Advancing relations with the African countries is among Russia’s unconditional priorities, and this approach is enshrined in the Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation approved by President Vladimir Putin.

Saudi and Qatari payments settle Syria’s arrears, allowing World Bank and IMF to re-engage.

The World Bank says it will restart operations in Syria following a 14-year pause after the country cleared more than $15m of debt with financial backing from Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

The United States-based institution announced on Friday that Syria no longer has outstanding obligations to the International Development Association (IDA), its fund dedicated to low-income countries.

Earlier this week, Saudi Arabia and Qatar paid off Syria’s outstanding debts of approximately $15.5m, paving the way for renewed engagement with international financial bodies.

“We are pleased that the clearance of Syria’s arrears will allow the World Bank Group to reengage with the country and address the development needs of the Syrian people,” the bank said. “After years of conflict, Syria is on a path to recovery and development.”

The bank is now preparing its first project in Syria, which will focus on improving electricity access — a key pillar for revitalising essential services like healthcare, education, and water supply.

Officials said it marks the beginning of expanded support aimed at stabilising Syria and boosting long-term growth.

US to lift sanctions on Syria

The bank’s announcement coincides with a dramatic shift in US policy towards Damascus.

US President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that Washington would begin lifting sanctions imposed on Syria, including measures under the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act.

On Wednesday, Trump met Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa on the sidelines of the GCC summit in Riyadh, marking a historic breakthrough in relations between the countries and the first such meeting between the two nations’ leaders in 25 years.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that waivers would be issued, easing restrictions on entities previously penalised for dealings with the now former administration of Bashar al-Assad, which was toppled in December.

“Lifting sanctions on Syria represents a fundamental turning point,” Ibrahim Nafi Qushji, an economist and banking expert, told Al Jazeera. “The Syrian economy will transition from interacting with developing economies to integrating with more developed ones, potentially significantly reshaping trade and investment relations.”

The moves represent a significant moment in Syria’s reintegration into the global financial system after 13 years of civil war and isolation.

In April, a rare meeting was held in Washington involving officials from Syria, the IMF, the World Bank, and Saudi Arabia. A joint statement issued afterwards acknowledged the dire state of Syria’s economy and promised coordinated efforts to support its recovery.

The International Monetary Fund has since named its first mission chief to Syria in more than a decade. Ron van Rooden, previously involved with IMF operations in Ukraine, will lead the Fund’s renewed engagement.

Martin Muehleisen, a former IMF strategy chief, noted the urgency of providing technical assistance to rebuild Syria’s financial institutions. “Those efforts could be funded by donors and grants in-kind,” he told the news agency Reuters, adding that some support could begin within months.

Al-Assad was toppled after a lightning offensive by opposition fighters led by the Hay’et Tahrir al-Sham armed group last December.

Syria’s new government has sought to rebuild the country’s diplomatic ties, including with international financial institutions. It also counts on wealthy Gulf Arab states to play a pivotal role in financing the reconstruction of Syria’s war-ravaged infrastructure and reviving its economy.

The government, led by interim President al-Sharaa, also wants to transition away from the system that gave al-Assad loyalists privileged access to government contracts and kept key industries in the hands of the al-Assad family.

The United States Supreme Court has granted an emergency petition from a group of migrants in Texas, barring the use of an 18th-century wartime law to expedite their removals.

Friday’s unsigned decision (PDF) is yet another blow to the administration of President Donald Trump, who has sought to use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to swiftly deport undocumented immigrants out of the US.

Only two conservative justices dissented: Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.

While the high court has yet to rule on the merits of Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act, it did issue “injunctive relief” to Venezuelan migrants faced with expulsion under the centuries-old law.

“We have long held that ‘no person shall be’ removed from the United States ‘without opportunity, at some time, to be heard’,” the court majority wrote in its ruling.

It reaffirmed a previous opinion that migrants in the US are entitled to due process – in other words, they are entitled to a fair hearing in the judicial system – before their deportation.

Friday’s case was brought by two unnamed migrants from Venezuela, identified only by initials. They are being held in a detention centre in north Texas as they face deportation.

The Trump administration has accused them, and others from Venezuela, of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang. It has further sought to paint undocumented migration into the US as an “invasion” and link Tren de Aragua’s activities in the US to the Venezuelan government, an assertion that a recently declassified intelligence memo disputes.

That, the Trump administration has argued, justifies its use of the Alien Enemies Act, which has only been used three times prior in US history – and only during periods of war.

But Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act has spurred a legal backlash, with several US district courts hearing petitions from migrants fearing expulsion under the law.

Multiple judges have barred the law’s use for expedited removals. But one judge in Pennsylvania ruled the Trump administration could deploy the law – provided it offer appropriate notice to those facing deportation. She suggested 21 days.

The Supreme Court on Friday did not weigh in on whether Trump’s use of the law was merited. Instead, its ruling – 24 pages in total, including a dissent – hewed closely to the issue of whether the Venezuelans in question deserved relief from their imminent deportation under the law.

The majority of the nine-justice bench noted that “evidence” it had seen in the case suggested “the Government had in fact taken steps on the afternoon of April 18” to invoke the Alien Enemies Act, even transporting the migrants “from their detention facility to an airport and later returning them”.

The justices asserted that they had a right to weigh in on the case, in order to prevent “irreparable harm” to the migrants and assert their jurisdiction in the case. Otherwise, they pointed out a deportation could put the migrants beyond their reach.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh went a step further in a separate opinion, calling on the Supreme Court to issue a final and binding ruling in the matter, rather than simply grant this one petition.

“The circumstances call for a prompt and final resolution, which likely can be provided only by this Court,” he said, agreeing with the majority’s decision.

Thomas and Alito, in their dissent, argued the Supreme Court had not afforded enough time to a lower court to rule on the emergency petition.

In the aftermath of the ruling, Trump lashed out on Truth Social, portraying the Supreme Court’s majority as overly lax towards migrants.

“THE SUPREME COURT WON’T ALLOW US TO GET CRIMINALS OUT OF OUR COUNTRY!” Trump wrote in the first of two consecutive posts.

In the second, he called Friday’s decision the mark of a “bad and dangerous day in America”. He complained that affirming the right to due process would result in “a long, protracted, and expensive Legal Process, one that will take, possibly, many years for each person”.

He also argued that the high court was preventing him from exercising his executive authority.

“The Supreme Court of the United States is not allowing me to do what I was elected to do,” he wrote, imagining a circumstance where extended deportation hearings would lead to “bedlam” in the US.

His administration has long accused the courts of interference in his agenda. But critics have warned that Trump’s actions – particularly, alleged efforts to ignore court orders – are eroding the US’s constitutional system of checks and balances.

In a statement after the ruling, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) praised the court’s decision as a bulwark against human rights abuses.

“The court’s decision to stay removals is a powerful rebuke to the government’s attempt to hurry people away to a Gulag-type prison in El Salvador,” said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project.

“The use of a wartime authority during peacetime, without even affording due process, raises issues of profound importance.”

The Supreme Court currently boasts a conservative supermajority, with six right-leaning judges and three left-leaning ones.

Three among them were appointed by Trump himself. Those three sided with the majority.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has accused a Mexican woman of furnishing a cartel with grenades and other weapons.

The United States has revealed the first federal charges against a foreign national for providing material support to one of the criminal groups that President Donald Trump has designated a “foreign terrorist organisation”.

On Friday, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a statement identifying the suspect as 39-year-old Maria Del Rosario Navarro-Sanchez of Mexico.

An unsealed indictment accused Navarro-Sanchez of furnishing the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), a Mexican drug cartel, with grenades and helping it smuggle migrants, firearms, money and drugs.

“Cartels like CJNG are terrorist groups that wreak havoc in American communities and are responsible for countless lives lost in the United States, Mexico and elsewhere,” US Attorney General Pam Bondi said in the statement.

“This announcement demonstrates the Justice Department’s unwavering commitment to securing our borders and protecting Americans through effective prosecution.”

The charges stem from a decision early in Trump’s second term in office to apply “terrorism” designations to foreign criminal organisations, including gangs and drug cartels.

On his first day back in office, on January 20, Trump signed an executive order declaring that “international cartels constitute a national-security threat beyond that posed by traditional organized crime”. He directed his officials to begin preparations for implementing the “terrorism” designations.

By February 19, the Federal Register in the US listed eight Latin American criminal groups as “foreign terrorist organisations”, among them the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13).

Mexico’s Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion was also among that initial group of designated organisations.

Since then, the Trump administration has broadened its scope, adding more Latin American groups to the list. On May 2, for instance, two Haitian gangs – Viv Ansanm and Gran Grif – joined the US’s list of foreign terrorist organisations.

These designations are a departure from the usual use of the “foreign terrorist” label, often reserved for organisations that seek specific political aims through their violence.

Critics, however, warn that this application could have unintended consequences, particularly for civilians in vulnerable situations. The “foreign terrorist designation” makes it a crime for anyone to offer material support to a given group, but criminal gangs often extort civilians for money and services as part of their fundraising activities.

“You could accuse anyone – from a migrant who pays a smuggler to a Mexican business that is forced to pay a ‘protection fee’ – of offering material or financial support to a terrorist organisation,” Will Freeman, a fellow for Latin America studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, told Al Jazeera journalist Brian Osgood earlier this year.

In the case unsealed on Friday, it was revealed that Navarro-Sanchez was arrested on May 4. She had two co-defendants, also Mexican citizens, who likewise faced charges of firearms trafficking and other crimes.

The Mexican government had previously confirmed Navarro-Sanchez’s arrest. A statement ICE released to the media showed multiple firearms and packages of meth and fentanyl allegedly linked to the case.

It also included a photo of a golden AR-15 gun known as “El Dorado” that was reportedly “recovered from Navarro-Sanchez’s possession during her arrest in Mexico”.

“Supplying grenades to a designated terrorist organisation – while trafficking firearms, narcotics, and human beings – is not just criminal,” said ICE’s acting Director Todd Lyons. “It’s a direct assault on the security of the United States.”

Tottenham have had the measure of Manchester United this season, beating them home and away in the Premier League and also in the Carabao Cup.

They will also likely back themselves to score against the Red Devils, having hit 21 more league goals than them, despite sitting fourth from bottom with United a place above.

In fact, no team outside the top six has scored more than Tottenham’s 63 goals.

Keeping them out, however, has been an issue with 61 league goals conceded, while United have fared marginally better with 54.

Encouragement for Postecoglou will also come from a lively first-half display by Son Heung-min against Villa.

The forward is looking to return to peak fitness after being sidelined with a foot injury and went close to scoring before the break.

Son, 32, has lost his last two finals with Spurs and will no doubt be determined to end his trophy drought with the club after a decade.

“He is ready and available,” Postecoglou said of Son. “He feels like he is getting back to some rhythm.”

United, meanwhile, could only muster one shot on target against Chelsea with Rasmus Hojlund again struggling to make an impact in attack.

The forward has scored just three goals in his last 15 appearances in all competitions.

“They have a problem, they have no striker,” former Manchester United captain Roy Keane told Sky Sports.

“Hojlund looked like a young boy from the academy. He is not good enough to be the main man. United are up against it all the time.”

Most presale buyers make the same mistake. They wait until the hype arrives, and by then, it’s too late. The best time to buy crypto, especially presales, is when the macro is bullish, the headlines are still fresh, and the retail hasn’t rotated yet.

Right now, Bitcoin has broken $100K, ETF inflows are exploding, and AI, meme, and L2 narratives are all accelerating. This is the intersection. And these three projects are the best crypto presales to buy, sitting at the center of that Venn diagram. Retail is coming. Twitter engagement is up. Discords are filling. But it hasn’t hit full tilt. The window is still open—not for long.

• Presales offer the most asymmetric upside in crypto by front-running adoption. Smart money isn’t chasing $100K Bitcoin—it’s looking for the trade after the trade. It asks what will pump next now that BTC has already ripped.
• Narratives are everything for presales. From meme coin mania to the AI agent explosion and Layer 2 scaling wars, projects that outperform are always driven by strong narratives. The best crypto presales to buy now are all located in growing narratives such as ballooning interest in BTC DeFi and rising BTC dominance, such as Bitcoin Pepe.
• Retail hasn’t shown up yet. This isn’t December 2017 or March 2021. The masses are only just starting to wake up, and when they do, presales could put in monstrous pumps. The ‘secret window’ is open—but not for long. Bitcoin’s rally provides perfect grounds for a massive altcoin surge, and the next 2-3 weeks could define the next 6-12 months.

The best time to buy crypto isn’t when everyone’s watching

The presales leading the charge? Bitcoin Pepe, Solaxy, and Mind of Pepe. Each of these projects is a bet of where the next 100X attention wave is going to land.

Bitcoin Pepe: Building ‘Solana on Bitcoin’

Bitcoin Pepe is a meme layer that brings high-speed, low-fee, Solana-style trading to Bitcoin’s institutional-grade security. With its revolutionary Layer 2 scaling solution, Bitcoin Pepe is dragging BTC into the modern age and launching an entire ecosystem.

It introduces the PEP-20 token standard—Bitcoin’s answer to Ethereum’s ERC-20. Unlocking meme coin creation on BTC for the first time alongside lightning-fast trading and DeFi functionality directly on Bitcoin. Presale momentum is explosive, especially since the team announced CEX listings to follow its May 31st launch. 

What makes BPEP unique is the narrative intersection and technical leap. Bitcoin has always been ‘serious money’ and is now treated as a legitimate macro asset. Bitcoin Pepe injects that speculative meme mania that retail loves. Best of all, its native bridge opens a direct channel for $2 trillion in dormant BTC liquidity.

BPEP makes the perfect trade after the trade and provides an ideal speculative channel for retail traders who missed BTC’s massive pump. Launching on May 31st, this Layer 2 has raised a smashing $8.4m, and the current price of $0.0326 won’t last long. Already positioned as the leading contender to become the epicenter of meme coin trading on Bitcoin, this is a presale investors must be watching.

Mind of Pepe: When memes start thinking

Solaxy: The Layer 2 Solana didn’t know it needed

The presale supercycle begins now

Bitcoin Pepe is the speculative layer for Bitcoin and a perfect infra play for where attention goes next. Buying before listings is the path to outsized returns, and this is the presale supercycle. These moments are the best time to buy crypto before things go crazy.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not provide financial advice. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, and the market can be unpredictable. Always perform thorough research before making any cryptocurrency-related decisions.

Ukraine and Russia agreed to a 1,000-for-1,000 prisoner swap — the war’s largest — during their first direct peace talks in three years, in Istanbul. Kyiv is now pushing for a Zelensky-Putin summit and a clear ceasefire plan.

Just Stop Oil

Activists ‘dragged out trial for publicity’

Despite the recent peace accord signed by the government of the Central African Republic (CAR) and two rebel groups, the warring parties have continued attacking each other, with unarmed civilians at the receiving end.

The latest clashes occurred on May 15, 2025, between the CAR soldiers and dozens of rebels around the Mambere prefecture of the country. Events leading to the clashes remain unknown, but local media reports reveal that a soldier was injured during the fighting.

The incident came 24 hours after another attack in the town of Ouadda, situated 204 kilometres from Bria in the Haute-Kotto prefecture. There, the armed group, Rassemblement de la Nation Centrafricaine (PRNC), carried out an offensive which resulted in the death of five soldiers and two civilians.

The CAR authorities have not made any declaration concerning the incidents, and the exact circumstances of the clashes and the details of the armed groups involved remain unclear.

The country has been embroiled in a brutal civil war since 2013, when the Séléka, a predominantly Muslim rebel coalition, seized power and ousted President François Bozizé. This marked the beginning of a devastating conflict that has ravaged the country, causing widespread displacement, hunger, and human rights abuses.

Historical grievances played a significant role in the conflict’s escalation. The Séléka rebels accused the government of failing to abide by previous peace agreements, which led to their takeover. Religious and ethnic tensions between the mostly Muslim Séléka rebels and the predominantly Christian Anti-balaka militias have fueled the conflict. 

Over 737,000 Central Africans are registered as refugees, and 632,000 are internally displaced. Half of the population lacks access to sufficient food, and the country ranks worst on the Global Hunger Index. The healthcare system is barely functioning, with a shortage of skilled health workers and medical supplies. The ongoing conflict has had a profound impact on the country’s development and its people. The situation remains complex, with multiple factors contributing to the crisis. 

The ASEAN region is often cited as a successful example of regional cooperation. The ASEAN regional bloc consisting of 10 South East Asian countries — Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. It was founded in 1967 with the founding members of the organisation being Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand.

ASEAN’s economic achievements

The South-East Asian regional bloc has also been an engine of global growth. Even amidst the economic challenges in recent years, the average growth rate of the group was well over 4% in 2024. While Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam recorded growth of over 5%, Vietnam was the star performer growing at over 7%. According to forecasts, Vietnam is likely to comfortably surpass 6% growth in 2025 and 2026. While the foundations for these successes have been laid over decades, one of the reasons for the economic progress of these nations has been their ability to adapt to geopolitical and economic changes.

The ASEAN region has benefited significantly from globalisation, especially countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam.If one were to look at regional trade within the ASEAN group, it was estimated at $3.5 trillion.  ASEAN, which has robust economic relations with US and China, has also focused on enhancing trade with non-member countries.

ASEAN has also excelled in terms of attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). In 2023, ASEAN’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows exceeded $200 billion (230 billion). Thus, the regional bloc has emerged as the largest recipient of FDI in developing regions. The star performers, in terms of drawing FDI, in recent years of the ASEAN region have been Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam. While earlier the successes of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia drew international attention in recent years it is Vietnam’s economic success which has begun to draw attention. The successes of these countries can be attributed to investor friendly policies, increasing focus on R &D and tech, their geographical location and as mentioned their deftness in dealing with the changing landscape. So far, most ASEAN nations have steered clear of getting embroiled in geopolitical wrangling between China and the US. In recent months, several ASEAN countries have expressed their concern in the context of the downward spiral of ties between both countries.

ASEAN Soft Power

Apart from robust economic performance, the ASEAN grouping has also been reasonably successful in promoting their Soft Power. According to the Brand Finance Soft Power rankings 2025, Singapore ranked 21 globally was ranked the highest in the ASEAN region. It would be pertinent to point out, that rich and diverse culture of the region along with a tourist friendly eco-system has resulted in ASEAN being a preferred destination from tourists across the world. Apart from Singapore and Thailand, other popular tourist destinations in the region are; Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam. Recent years have witnessed a significant increase in the number of Indian tourists visiting the ASEAN region.

 One of the strong components of ASEAN power has been tourism. According to estimates, the ASEAN region was able to attract 123 million tourists in 2024. Six ASEAN countries — Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Myanmar — are also proposing a joint visa initiative dubbed as “6 countries, 1 destination”. This will be a common visa like Schengen. The idea was proposed by Thailand, which is heavily dependent upon tourism and believes that this initiative would give a further boost to tourism.

Some countries have also been able to draw international students. With western countries becoming more inward looking, there is scope for ASEAN countries like Singapore and Malaysia to attract international students. Singapore has emerged as a popular destination for students due to some of its higher education educations being highly ranked as well as the career avenues in that country. Malaysia received over 80,000 student application from international students – this was a 25% increase from 2023.  Both ASEAN countries could become especially attractive destinations for more South Asian students for whom countries in the Anglosphere have been favoured.

ASEAN member states reaction to Trump’s imposition of tariffs

ASEAN nations have expressed their scepticism regarding the deterioration in US-China ties, since they have close economic ties with both.  Apart from this, all have been extremely critical of tariffs and are looking to diversify their relationships. The Singapore PM, Lawrence Wong, while commenting on the recent tariffs announced by US President, Donald Trump said:

“..the recent Liberation Day announcement by the US leaves no room for doubt,…It marks a seismic change in the global order.”

ASEAN interest in BRICS in a changing situation

In the changing situation, it is likely that more ASEAN countries will also explore membership of BRICS+. Indonesia had joined BRICS in January 2025 as a member, while other ASEAN member states – Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam – joined as observers in October 2024. Indonesian foreign minister, Sugiono after joining BRICS had said that it’s decision to join BRICS+ was a reiteration of its independent foreign policy. Other ASEAN countries are also exploring the possibility of entering BRICS.

Conclusion

In conclusion, as mentioned earlier the ASEAN region has so far reaped the dividends of globalisation and a reasonably stable relationship between US and China for very long. The current geopolitical and economic situation is likely to pose significant challenges for the ASEAN region. Apart from internal contradictions within the Bloc, global uncertainty due to US policies during Trump 2.0 are likely to be a major challenge. While all eyes are on the economic impact of the current global turbulence, it is important for ASEAN to focus on ‘Soft Power’, since the region has specific potential in areas like tourism and education as has been discussed earlier. It remains to be seen whether ASEAN can effectively use “Smart Power” to deal with the changing global landscape.

Days earlier, Novo Nordisk cut its sales and profit forecast for first time since the launch of Wegovy four years ago.

Wegovy-maker Novo Nordisk has pushed out CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen over concerns the company is losing its first-mover advantage in the highly competitive obesity drug market.

Novo Nordisk announced the decision on Friday.

Days earlier, Novo Nordisk cut its sales and profit forecast for the first time since the launch of Wegovy four years ago, though Jorgensen had predicted a return to growth in its biggest market in the second half of this year.

Novo’s chairman, Helge Lund, tried to reassure analysts and investors on a call that the company’s strategy was intact and the plan for executing it had not changed.

He told the Reuters news agency that discussions to replace Jorgensen had occurred over the past few weeks. Novo said earlier that Jorgensen will remain in his role until a successor is found.

Under Jorgensen’s leadership, Novo Nordisk became a world leader in the weight-loss drug market, with skyrocketing sales of its Wegovy and Ozempic treatments.

Analysts and investors were unconvinced of the need to replace him.

“He was leading the company for eight years and was, in my opinion, extremely successful,” Lukas Leu, a portfolio manager at Bellevue Asset Management, told Reuters.

Danske Bank analyst Carsten Lonborg Madsen was similarly caught off guard.

“The way we know Novo Nordisk is that normally you have patience when you’re on the right track, and then you let things move in the right direction once you have the strategy right,” he said.

“It just feels like there’s something that has gone pretty wrong here,” he said on the call.

Novo’s shares have plunged since hitting a record high in June last year as competition, particularly from US rival Eli Lilly, makes inroads into its market share and as its pipeline of new drugs has failed to impress investors.

“The changes are made in light of the recent market challenges Novo Nordisk has been facing, and the development of the company’s share price since mid-2024,” Novo said in its statement.

Shares down

Jorgensen, at 58, has been CEO since 2017. He said in an interview with Danish broadcaster TV2 that he did not see the decision coming, and was only informed very recently.

Booming sales of Wegovy helped make Novo the most valuable listed company in Europe, worth $615bn at its peak in June last year, but its market value has halved to about $310bn.

Novo Nordisk’s share price fell on the news, trading 0.8 percent lower by 14:01 GMT after being 4 percent higher earlier in the day.

The shares are down 32 percent year-to-date and 59 percent from their all-time high.

Eli Lilly has seen US prescriptions for its Zepbound obesity shot surpass Wegovy since mid-March in its biggest market. Eli Lilly shares were up 2.6 percent after the news.

Camilla Sylvest, Novo’s head of commercial strategy and corporate affairs and a consistent presence alongside CEO Jorgensen, stepped down last month without citing a reason.

Former CEO of Novo Nordisk for 16 years and current chair of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Lars Rebien Sorensen, will join the board as an observer with immediate effect with the aim of taking a seat at the next annual general meeting, Novo said.

The company is controlled by the Novo Nordisk Foundation through its investment arm, which owns 77 percent of the voting shares.

The US president has repeatedly threatened to unleash air strikes targeting Iran’s programme if a deal isn’t reached.

United States President Donald Trump says that Iran has his administration’s proposal regarding its rapidly advancing nuclear programme as negotiations between the two countries continue.

Trump made the remarks on Friday on board Air Force One as he ended his trip to the United Arab Emirates. It is the first time he has acknowledged sending a proposal to Tehran after multiple rounds of negotiations between US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

“We’re in very serious negotiations with Iran for long-term peace,” Trump told a journalist when asked about the proposal.

“We’re not going to be making any nuclear dust in Iran. I think we’re getting close to maybe doing a deal without having to do this,” he said.

“But most importantly, they know they have to move quickly, or something bad is going to happen.”

On Thursday, Araghchi spoke to journalists at the Tehran International Book Fair and said that Iran had not received any proposal from the US yet.

Araghchi also criticised what he called conflicting and inconsistent statements from the Trump administration, describing them as either a sign of disarray in Washington or a calculated negotiation strategy.

Witkoff at one point suggested that Iran could enrich uranium at 3.67 percent, then later said that all Iranian enrichment must stop.

“We are hearing many contradictory statements from the United States – from Washington, from the president, and from the new administration,” Araghchi said.

“Sometimes we hear two or three different positions in a single day.”

Iranian and American officials have met in Oman and Rome in recent weeks for the negotiations mediated by Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, a trusted interlocutor between the two nations.

The talks seek to limit Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions the US has imposed on the Islamic republic.

Trump has previously threatened to launch attacks targeting Iran’s nuclear programme if a deal isn’t reached.

Some Iranian officials have warned that Tehran could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.

Separately on Friday, Iranian officials also met officials from Britain, France and Germany in Istanbul to discuss their nuclear negotiations with Washington.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, who attended the talks in the Turkish city, said in a post on X: “We exchanged views and discussed the latest status of the indirect nuclear negotiations and the lifting of sanctions.”

Gharibabadi added that if necessary, Tehran would meet with the so-called E3 – the European parties to the 2015 nuclear deal, along with China, Russia and the United States – once again to continue discussions, after several meetings since last year.

Trump had effectively torpedoed the deal during his first term by unilaterally abandoning it in 2018 and reimposing sanctions on Iran’s banking sector and oil exports.

A year later, Iran responded by rolling back its own commitments under the deal, which provided relief from sanctions in return for UN-monitored restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activities.

When my grandmother, Khadija Ammar, walked out of her home in Beit Daras for the last time in May 1948, she embarked on a lonely journey. Even though she was accompanied by hundreds of thousands of Palestinians – also forced to leave behind their cherished homes and lands to escape the horror unleashed by Zionist militias – there was no one in the world watching. They were together, but utterly alone. And there was no word to describe their harrowing experience.

In time, Palestinians came to refer to the events of May 1948 as the Nakba, or the catastrophe. The use of the word nakba in this context invokes the memory of another “catastrophe”,  the Holocaust. The Palestinians were telling the world: just three years after the catastrophe that befell on the Jewish people in Europe, a new catastrophe –  very different, but no less painful – is unfolding in our homeland, Palestine.

Tragically, our catastrophe never came to an end. Seventy-seven years after my grandmother’s expulsion, we are still being hunted, punished and killed, for trying to live on our lands with dignity or demanding that we are allowed to return to them.

Because it has never truly ended, commemorating the Nakba as a historical event has always been difficult. But today, a new challenge confronts us as we try to understand, discuss or commemorate the Nakba: it has entered a new and terrifying phase. It is no longer just a continuation of the horror that began 77 years ago.

Today, the Nakba has transformed into what Amnesty International described as a “live-streamed genocide”, its violence no longer hidden in archives or buried in survivors’ memories. The pain, the blood, the fear and the hunger are all visible on the screens of our devices.

As such, the word “Nakba” is not appropriate or sufficient to describe what is being done to my people and my homeland today. There is a need for new language – new terminology that accurately describes the reality of this new phase of the Palestinian catastrophe. We need a new word that could hopefully help focus the averted eyes of the world on Palestine.

Many terms have been proposed for this purpose – and I have used several in my writing. These include democide, medicide, ecocide, culturicide, spacio-cide, Gazacide, and scholasticide. Each of these terms undoubtedly defines an important aspect of what is happening today in Palestine.

One term that I find especially powerful as an academic is scholasticide. It underlines the ongoing, systematic erasure of Palestinian knowledge. Every university in Gaza has been destroyed. Ninety percent of schools have been reduced to rubble. Cultural centres and museums flattened. Professors and students killed. The term scholasticide, coined by the brilliant academic Karma Nabulsi, describes not only the physical destruction of Palestinian educational institutions but also the war being waged on memory, imagination and the Indigenous intellect itself.

Another term I find evocative and meaningful is Gazacide. Popularised by Ramzy Baroud, it refers to a century-long campaign of erasure, displacement and genocide targeting this specific corner of historic Palestine. The strength of this term lies in its ability to locate the crime both historically and geographically, directly naming Gaza as the central site of genocidal violence.

Although each of these terms is powerful and meaningful, they are all too specific and thus unable to fully capture the totality of the Palestinian experience in recent years. Gazacide, for example, does not encompass the lived realities of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, or those in refugee camps across the region. Scolasticide, meanwhile, does not address the apparent Israeli determination to make Palestinian lands inhabitable to their Indigenous population. And none of the aforementioned words address Israel’s declared intentions for Gaza: complete destruction. On May 6, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich chillingly stated, “Gaza will be entirely destroyed … and from there [the civilians] will start to leave in great numbers to third countries.”

As such, I propose a new term – al-Ibādah or the Destruction – to define this latest phase of the Nakba. The term reflects the horrifying rhetoric employed by Smotrich and numerous other Zionist fascist leaders and captures the comprehensive and systematic erasure under way not only in Gaza, but across historic Palestine. Al-Ibādah is capacious enough to encompass multiple forms of targeted annihilation, including democide, medicide, ecocide, scholasticide, culturicide and others.

In Arabic, the phrase for genocide, “al-Ibādah jamāʿiyyah” meaning “the annihilation of everyone and everything” has the word al-Ibādah as its root. The proposed term al-Ibādah intentionally truncates this phrase, transforming it into a concept that signifies a permanent and definitive condition of destruction. While it does not assign a specific geographical location, it draws conceptual strength from the work of Pankaj Mishra (The World After Gaza), who argues that the treatment of Palestinians in Gaza represents a qualitatively distinct form of genocidal violence. According to Mishra, Gaza constitutes the front line of Western neocolonial and neoliberal projects, which seek to consolidate global order around the ideology of white supremacy. By pairing the definite article with the noun, al-Ibādah asserts this condition as a historical rupture – a moment that demands recognition as a turning point in both Palestinian experience and global conscience.

Today, when it comes to Palestine, the word “destruction” is no longer whispered. From military commanders to politicians, journalists to academics, vast segments of the Israeli public now openly embrace the complete destruction of the Palestinian people as their ultimate goal.

Entire families are being wiped out. Journalists, doctors, intellectuals and civil society leaders are deliberately targeted. Forced starvation is used as a weapon. Parents carry the bodies of their children to the camera, to document the massacre. Journalists are killed mid-broadcast. We are becoming the martyrs, the wounded, the witness, the chroniclers of our own destruction.

My grandmother survived the Nakba of 1948. Today, her children and over two million Palestinians in Gaza live through even darker days: the days of destruction.

My pregnant cousin Heba and her family, along with nine of their neighbours, were killed on October 13, 2023. By then, just days after October 7, dozens of families had already been erased in their entirety: the Shehab, Baroud, Abu al-Rish, Al Agha, Al Najjar, Halawa, Abu Mudain,  Al-Azaizeh, Abu Al-Haiyeh.

On October 26, 2023, 46 members of my own extended family were killed in one strike. By last summer, that number had grown to 400. Then I stopped counting.

My cousin Mohammed tells me they avoid sleep, terrified they won’t be awake in time to pull the children from the rubble. “We stay awake not because we want to but because we have to be ready to dig.”  Last month, Mohammed was injured in an air strike that killed our cousin Ziyad, an UNRWA social worker, and Ziyad’s sister-in-law. Fifteen children under 15 were injured in the same attack. That night, as he had done countless times over the past 18 months, Mohammed dug through the rubble to recover their bodies. He tells me the faces of the dead visit him every night – family, friends, neighbours. By day, he flips through an old photo album, but every picture now holds a void. Not a single image remains untouched by loss. At night, they return to him – sometimes in tender dreams, but more often in nightmares.

This month, on May 7, Israeli strikes on a crowded restaurant and market on the same street in Gaza City killed dozens of people in a matter of minutes. Among them was journalist Yahya Subeih, whose first child, a baby girl, was born that very morning.  He went to the market to get supplies for his wife and never returned. His daughter will grow up marking her birthday on the same day her father was killed – a terrible memory etched into a life just beginning. Noor Abdo, another journalist, compiled a list of relatives killed in this war. He sent the list to a human rights organisation on May 6. On May 7, he was added to it himself.

A worker at the restaurant that was hit spoke about a pizza order placed by two girls. He said he overheard their conversation. “This is expensive, very expensive,” one girl said to the other. “That’s okay” she replied. “Let’s fulfil our dream and eat pizza before we die. No one knows.” They laughed and ordered.  Soon after their order arrived, the restaurant was shelled and one of the girls was killed. The worker does not know the fate of the other. He, however, says he noticed a single slice from their pizza was eaten. We can only hope that the one who was killed got to taste it.

This, all this, is al-Ibādah. This is the destruction.

In the face of global inaction, we are all but powerless.

Our protests, our tears, our cries have all fallen on deaf ears.

But we are still left with our words.  And speech does have power.  In the Irish play Translations, which documents the linguistic destruction of the Irish language by the British army in the early 1800s, the playwright Brian Friel explains how by naming a thing we give it power, we “make it real”.  So in a final act of desperation, let the commemoration of this year’s Nakba be the time when we name this thing and make it real: al-Ibādah, the Destruction.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

R&B singer Chris Brown has been remanded in custody after appearing in court charged over an alleged bottle attack at a London nightclub.

The American singer was arrested at Manchester’s Lowry Hotel on Thursday and later charged over the alleged assault, which is said to have happened at the Tape club in London’s Mayfair in 2023.

Brown, 36, is alleged to have used a bottle to cause grievous bodily harm to music producer Abe Diaw.

The singer was in Manchester ahead of his planned tour of the UK in June and July, with dates at the city’s Co-Op Live Arena in Manchester and the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.

During the hearing, Brown, who was wearing black tracksuit bottoms and a plain t-shirt, spoke to confirm his full name as Christopher Maurice Brown and date of birth.

When asked to confirm his address he said The Lowry Hotel.

District Judge Joanne Hirst told Brown the case will be moved to Southwark Crown Court in London with the next hearing to be held on 13 June.

She said the nature of the offence of grievous bodily harm was too serious to to be dealt with by a magistrates’ court.

Fans gathered outside Manchester Magistrates’ Court ahead of the hearing.

One fan, who lives in Manchester, told the BBC she had cancelled her plans so she could spend the day outside court.

Candy, 35, said she has followed the star since she was 14 and when she heard the news of his arrest she could not sleep.

“I’m just here to support him,” she said.

“I love his music, his voice. Even my children are fans now.”

Every meme coin investor dreams of catching 100x trades, and this month, that’s becoming an increasingly real possibility.

Crypto prices are exploding due to improving macroeconomic conditions, a softening regulatory environment, and rising institutional adoption.

While projects like Dogecoin and Pepe are up 22% and 48% this week, smaller meme coins are printing far bigger gains. For instance, Launch Coin is up over 9,000% and Moo Deng is up 400%.

Industry trends, token valuations, and use cases are all crucial to determine which meme coins see the strongest growth. So let’s analyze these factors to identify the best meme coins to buy now.

MIND of Pepe

But mix these two categories together and you get MIND of Pepe. A viral Pepe-themed meme coin with its own agent. The agent will monitor the crypto market 24/7 to identify trading opportunities, which it will share with $MIND holders.

It can also launch its own tokens based on the data it collects, so it might even launch the next viral meme coin.

The project is undergoing a presale, where it has raised $9 million so far.

Pepe is the best-performing large-cap meme coin this week, but MIND of Pepe takes its star power and equips it with AI utility. It’s a setup with massive potential.

BTC Bull Token

BTC Bull Token is a Bitcoin-themed meme coin on the Ethereum blockchain.

There are several Bitcoin-related meme coins on the market, but there isn’t anything else like $BTCBULL. That’s because the project is the first cryptocurrency to pay its holders real Bitcoin rewards.

It’ll track Bitcoin’s price and run airdrops at key milestones, starting at $150K and then with every proceeding $50K increase. The project will also hold token burns at $125k, $175k, and $225k to boost BTCBULL’s value.

Holders can also earn by staking their tokens. Currently, BTCBULL staking offers a 72% APY, but this will decrease over time, so getting in early will maximize profits.

$BTCBULL is also available to buy via a token presale, meaning investors still have a chance to buy in from the ground floor. The presale has raised $5.7 million so far.

With Bitcoin rewards on offer, $BTCBULL is unlike anything else on the market. This could create substantial long-term demand and allow its price to soar.

Dupe

For reference, Pump.fun’s top three meme coins are each valued above a $200 million market cap each. So if Believe eventually matches or outpaces Pump.fun, then we could see the Dupe price explode much higher.

Housecoin

Their situation seemed desperate; their demeanour, portrayed in several videos published by news outlets, was sour.

On a recent weekday in March, men, women, and even children – all with their belongings heaped on their heads or strapped to their bodies – disembarked from the ferry they say they were forcibly hauled onto from the vast northwest African nation of Mauritania to the Senegalese town of Rosso, on the banks of the Senegal River.

Their offence? Being migrants from the region, they told reporters, regardless of whether they had legal residency papers.

“We suffered there,” one woman told France’s TV5 Monde, a baby perched on her hip. “It was really bad.”

The deportees are among hundreds of West Africans who have been rounded up by Mauritanian security forces, detained, and sent over the border to Senegal and Mali in recent months, human rights groups say.

According to one estimate from the Mauritanian Association for Human Rights (AMDH),1,200 people were pushed back in March alone, even though about 700 of them had residence permits.

Those pushed back told reporters about being randomly approached for questioning before being arrested, detained for days in tight prison cells with insufficient food and water, and tortured. Many people remained in prison in Mauritania, they said.

The largely desert country – which has signed expensive deals with the European Union to keep migrants from taking the risky boat journey across the Atlantic Ocean to Western shores – has called the pushbacks necessary to crack down on human smuggling networks.

However, its statements have done little to calm rare anger from its neighbours, Mali and Senegal, whose citizens make up a huge number of those sent back.

Mali’s government, in a statement in March, expressed “indignation” at the treatment of its nationals, adding that “the conditions of arrest are in flagrant violation of human rights and the rights of migrants in particular.”

In Senegal, a member of parliament called the pushbacks “xenophobic” and urged the government to launch an investigation.

“We’ve seen these kinds of pushbacks in the past but it is at an intensity we’ve never seen before in terms of the number of people deported and the violence used,” Hassan Ould Moctar, a migration researcher at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London, told Al Jazeera.

The blame, the researcher said, was largely to be put on the EU. On one hand, Mauritania was likely under pressure from Brussels, and on the other hand, it was also likely reacting to controversial rumours that migrants deported from Europe would be resettled in the country despite Nouakchott’s denial of such an agreement.

Is Mauritania the EU’s external border?

Mauritania, on the edge of the Atlantic, is one of the closest points from the continent to Spain’s Canary Islands. That makes it a popular departure point for migrants who crowd the coastal capital, Nouakchott, and the commercial northern city of Nouadhibou. Most are trying to reach the Canaries, a Spanish enclave closer to the African continent than to Europe, from where they can seek asylum.

Due to its role as a transit hub, the EU has befriended Nouakchott – as well as the major transit points of Morocco and Senegal – since the 2000s, pumping funds to enable security officials there to prevent irregular migrants from embarking on the crossing.

However, the EU honed in on Mauritania with renewed vigour last year after the number of people travelling from the country shot up to unusual levels, making it the number one departure point.

About 83 percent of the 7,270 people who arrived in the Canaries in January 2024 travelled from Mauritania, migrant advocacy group Caminando Fronteras (CF) noted in a report last year. That number represented a 1,184 percent increase compared with January 2023, when most people were leaving Senegal. Some 3,600 died on the Mauritania-Atlantic route between January and April 2024, CF noted.

Analysts, and the EU, link the surge to upheavals wracking the Sahel, from Mali to Niger, including coups and attacks by several armed groups looking to build caliphates. In Mali, attacks on local communities by armed groups and government forces suspicious of locals have forced hundreds over the border into Mauritania in recent weeks.

Ibrahim Drame of the Senegalese Red Cross in the border town of Rosso told Al Jazeera the migrant raids began in January after a new immigration law went into force, requiring a residence permit for any foreigner living on Mauritanian soil. However, he said most people have not had an opportunity to apply for those permits. Before this, nationals of countries like Senegal and Mali enjoyed free movement under bilateral agreements.

“Raids have been organised day and night, in large markets, around bus stations, and on the main streets,” Drame noted, adding that those affected are receiving dwindling shelter and food support from the Red Cross, and included migrants from Togo, Nigeria, Niger, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana and Benin.

“Hundreds of them were even hunted down in their homes or workplaces, without receiving the slightest explanation … mainly women, children, people with chronic illnesses in a situation of extreme vulnerability and stripped of all their belongings, even their mobile phones,” Drame said.

Last February, European Commission head, Ursula von der Leyen, visited President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani in Nouakchott to sign a 210 million euro ($235m) “migrant partnership agreement”. The EU said the agreement was meant to intensify “border security cooperation” with Frontex, the EU border agency, and dismantle smuggler networks. The bloc has promised an additional 4 million euros ($4.49m) this year to provide food, medical, and psychosocial support to migrants.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was also in Mauritania in August to sign a separate border security agreement.

Fear and pain from a dark past

Black Mauritanians in the country, meanwhile, say the pushback campaign has awakened feelings of exclusion and forced displacement carried by their communities. Some fear the deportations may be directed at them.

Activist Abdoulaye Sow, founder of the US-based Mauritanian Network for Human Rights in the US (MNHRUS), told Al Jazeera that to understand why Black people in the country feel threatened, there’s a need to understand the country’s painful past.

Located at a confluence where the Arab world meets Sub-Saharan Africa, Mauritania has historically been racially segregated, with the Arab-Berber political elite dominating over the Black population, some of whom were previously, or are still, enslaved. It was only in 1981 that Mauritania passed a law abolishing slavery, but the practice still exists, according to rights groups.

Dark-skinned Black Mauritanians are composed of Haratines, an Arabic-speaking group descended from formerly enslaved peoples. There are also non-Arabic speaking groups like the Fulani and Wolof, who are predominantly from the Senegal border area in the country’s south.

Black Mauritanians, Sow said, were once similarly deported en masse in trucks from the country to Senegal. It dates back to April 1989, when simmering tensions between Mauritanian herders and Senegalese farmers in border communities erupted and led to the 1989-1991 Border War between the two countries. Both sides deployed their militaries in heavy gunfire battles. In Senegal, mobs attacked Mauritanian traders, and in Mauritania, security forces cracked down on Senegalese nationals.

Because a Black liberation movement was also growing at the time, and the Mauritanian military government was fearful of a coup, it cracked down on Black Mauritanians, too.

By 1991, there were refugees on either side in the thousands. However, after peace came about, the Mauritanian government expelled thousands of Black Mauritanians under the guise of repatriating Senegalese refugees. Some 60,000 people were forced into Senegal. Many lost important citizenship and property documents in the process.

“I was a victim too,” Sow said. “It wasn’t safe for Blacks who don’t speak Arabic. I witnessed armed people going house to house and asking people if they were Mauritanian, beating them, even killing them.”

Sow said it is why the deportation of sub-Saharan migrants is scaring the community. Although he has written open letters to the government warning of how Black people could be affected, he said there has been no response.

“When they started these recent deportations again, I knew where they were going, and we’ve already heard of a Black Mauritanian deported to Mali. We’ve been sounding the alarm for so long, but the government is not responsive.”

The Mauritanian government directed Al Jazeera to an earlier statement it released regarding the deportations, but did not address allegations of possible forced expulsions of Black Mauritanians.

In the statement, the government said it welcomed legal migrants from neighbouring countries, and that it was targeting irregular migrants and smuggling networks.

“Mauritania has made significant efforts to enable West African nationals to regularise their residence status by obtaining resident cards following simplified procedures,” the statement read.

Although Mauritania eventually agreed to take back its nationals between 2007 and 2012, many Afro-Mauritanians still do not have documents proving their citizenship as successive administrations implement fluctuating documentation and census laws. Tens of thousands are presently stateless, Sow said. At least 16,000 refugees chose to stay back in Senegal to avoid persecution in Mauritania.

Sow said the fear of another forced deportation comes on top of other issues, including national laws that require students in all schools to learn in Arabic, irrespective of their culture. Arabic is Mauritania’s lingua franca, but Afro-Mauritanians who speak languages like Wolof or Pula are against what they call “forced Arabisation”. Sow says it is “cultural genocide”.

Despite new residence permit laws in place, Sow added, migrants, as well as the Black Mauritanian population, should be protected.

“Whether they are migrants or not, they have their rights as people, as humans,” he said.

The US president says he is looking for a solution to ‘bad things’ happening in Gaza, including starvation. Donald Trump also predicted progress on Ukraine-Russia peace talks “in two or three weeks”, as he talked to reporters on the final day of his Middle East tour.

A 23-year-old Mexican influencer, Valeria Marquez, was fatally shot while livestreaming on Tuesday.

Marquez, who had more than 113,000 followers on the platform, was broadcasting to her audience when the attack occurred.

According to a statement from the Jalisco state prosecutor’s office, the case is being investigated under femicide protocols, applied in instances where a woman is killed due to her gender.

What is femicide?

Femicide refers to gender-related killings against women and girls. According to the latest report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and UN Women, femicide is rising around the globe.

In 2023, a woman was intentionally killed every 10 minutes by a partner or family member.

Of the 85,000 women and girls killed across the world in 2023, 60 percent (51,000) were murdered by an intimate partner or a family member.

How common is femicide in Latin America and the Caribbean?

Honduras has the highest femicide rate with 7.2 women killed per 100,000 in 2023, followed by the Dominican Republic (2.4 per 100,000) and Brazil (1.4 per 100,000).

Mexico has the fourth-highest femicide rate in Latin America and the Caribbean, alongside Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia – all with 1.3 killings per 100,000 women in 2023.

In terms of absolute killings, Brazil saw the highest number of femicide cases with 1,463 women murdered. It was followed by Mexico, where 852 women were killed as a result of femicide in 2023. Honduras had the third-highest number, with 380 femicide cases.

Femicide is on the rise in Mexico

The rate of femicide is rising on the whole in the country, despite some fluctuations over the years.

It has become a major concern in Mexico with recorded cases rising significantly over the past decade. In 2015, femicides represented 19.8 percent of female homicides. This proportion had increased to 24.2 percent by 2024.

According to the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNCLAC), in 2015, the rate of femicide in Mexico was 0.7 women per 100,000. In 2023, that number now stands at 1.3 per 100,000 women – though that’s down marginally from a peak of 1.6 per 100,000 in 2021. Gender-based violence against women grew globally during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Mexico was no exception.

While statistics from UNCLAC show the rate of femicide in Mexico has declined over the past three years, it remains a pronounced and often silent issue due to underreporting, say experts.

In Mexico, some 85 percent of women aged 15 and over who have experienced physical or sexual violence did not file a complaint, according to Mexico’s National Survey on the Dynamics of Household Relationships.

Where in Mexico has the worst rates of femicide?

The killing of Marquez took place just days before another woman, a mayoral candidate in the state of Veracruz, was also shot dead during a livestream alongside three other people.

According to Mexico’s National Public Security System (SNSP), the national rate of femicide was 1.18 per 100,000 in 2024.

The state of Morelos, in south-central Mexico, had the highest rate of femicide with 4.7 women per 100,000 murdered, followed by Chihuahua (2.35 per 100,000) and Tabasco (2.22 per 100,000).

In Jalisco state where Marquez was killed, the femicide rate was 0.63 per 100,000 in 2024.

Jalisco is ranked sixth out of Mexico’s 32 states, including Mexico City, for homicides, with 906 recorded there since the beginning of President Claudia Sheinbaum’s term in October 2024, according to the data consultancy TResearch.