GENOCIDE  WATCH

West Africa in July 2026 saw worsening political repression, conflict, human-rights abuses and drug-related crises, alongside severe flooding and health challenges, while some countries made progress in healthcare and vaccination.

A widening diplomatic rift is complicating efforts to confront a shared cross-border security threat.

By Anna-Lisa Paul, Senior Reporter, anna-lisa.paul@guardian.co.tt August 20, 2026 Valpark Plaza, Valpark (Source: Trinidad & Tobago Guardian) Chaguanas Magistrates' Court (Source: Trinidad & Tobago Guardian) Security agencies across Trinidad and Tobago, including the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) and the Trinidad and Tobago Fire Service (TTFS), were placed on high alert yesterday, after a series of 11 bomb threats targeted several courts, a shopping plaza and a go

By Basillioh Rukanga, Thomas Mukhwana, Reporting fromin Nairobi, Henry Moore and Vanessa Buschschluter Published August 19, 2026 Rescue officials at the crash site in a remote area of Samburu County by Mount Ololokwe (Source: Kenya Red Cross/Handout via Reuters) Ecuador's intelligence chief and his wife have been killed in a helicopter that crashed at Mount Ololokwe in central Kenya. Michele Sensi-Contugi, 44, and his wife, fashion designer Stephany Hollihan, 42, were among t

Picture showing White Helmets volunteer unconscious and with bruises on his body went viral By William Christou Mourners carry the coffin of Mohammad Ghamira for burial in the village of al-Haffah, in Latakia province, Syria on Monday. Photograph: AP Syrians have protested over the death of a man who was arrested and allegedly beaten by security forces, sparking widespread anger at a practice thought to have ended with the fall of Bashar al-Assad. A crowd gathered in the city

By Al Jazeera Staff, AP and Reuters August 18, 2026 Eight air strikes hit an airbase in northwestern Syria's Idlib governorate, state TV reports [Al Jazeera] Turkiye rejects Israeli allegations that it posed a threat by preparing to send troops to airbase in Syria’s Idlib. Israel has bombed an airbase in Syria’s Idlib, according to Syrian media, with Turkiye denouncing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “expansionist” policies and the United States criticising what i

By Mohammad Yunus Yawar August 18, 2026 Members of the Hazara community pray outside a mosque on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan in October 2021 (AAMIR QURESHI / AFP - Getty Images) KABUL, Aug 18 (Reuters) - An explosion at an education centre in Kabul injured at least 42 children on Monday, the United Nations Assistance ​Mission in Afghanistan said on Tuesday, calling for an "investigation to establish ‌the circumstances of this incident." The blast occurred on Monday ev

Brazil marks borders for isolated Indigenous group in the Amazon after decades. Shanna Hanbury August 19, 2026 The first sign demarcating the Rio Pardo Kawahiva Indigenous Territory. Image courtesy of FUNAI. Agents of Brazil’s Indigenous agency, FUNAI, spent 60 days in June and July 2026 physically marking the borders of the Rio Pardo Kawahiva Indigenous Territory. The 411,000-hectare (1 million-acre) area in the Amazon biome of Mato Grosso state is home to the Kawahiva, an i

By Aqil Shah August 17, 2026 Protestors burn tyres along a road after clashes with police in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-administered Kashmir on July 31, 2026. (Sajjad Qayyum-AFP via Getty Images) Irish poets and American presidents have long spoken of Kashmir: its beauty and its dangers. The question of Kashmir has shaped the trajectories of India and Pakistan since the end of British rule and their birth as nation-states in August 1947. Both countries claim Kashmir in its enti

By Sophia Khan Belarus opposition supporters lay flowers near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester, died on Aug. 10, 2020, during a protest in Minsk. (Sergei Gapon/AFP via Getty Images) Although Belarus was a founding republic of the Soviet Union, the 1988 discovery of mass grave sites from Stalin-era targeting prompted calls for independence. Belarus declared independence on August 25, 1991, after the dissolution of the Soviet U

Special Report, August 2026 By Sophia Khan, Beth Paul, Alexander Smith, and Emily Mullin Ukrainian children fleeing Russian aggression (Mirek Pruchnicki from Przemyśl, Sanok, Polska, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons) The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly has publicly presented its 2026 report by the Special Envoy on Russian Abductions and Deportations of Ukrainian Children. The report stresses that the situation on the return o

August 13, 2026 By Luis Doncel and Carlos S. Maldonado (EL PAÍS) Hegseth announces that he has not ruled out a military option in Havana and proposes operations on Colombian soil. Trump’s strategy to control the region is met with resistance from Mexico and submission from Central America. Pete Hegseth attends the exercises that are part of PANAMAX 2026 in Panama City on August 13. Photo: Aris Martínez / Reuters The Trump administration can be accused of many things, but not

Assembly of First Nations calls for criminalization of residential school denialism Jackie McKay July 15, 2026 'It is a shame to live in a country that will not protect our people from hate crimes,' says MKO grand chief Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief Garrison Settee speaks at a news conference in Ottawa on Wednesday. (Pierre-Paul Couture/Radio-Canada) The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) has passed an emergency resolution that calls on Canada to criminalize reside

Protesters clash with police in Buenos Aires over Private Property Bil August 07, 2026 Thousands rally against Milei-backed legislation as unrest leaves at least three injured and 10 arrested. A demonstrator holds a national flag amid tear gas during protest outside the National Congress in Buenos Aires on August 6, 2026, as senators debate a bill on the inviolability of private property. | Luis ROBAYO / AFP Thousands of people marched in Buenos Aires on Thursday to protest a

By Anselm Gibbs Updated 10:10 PM BST, July 11, 2026 Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar stands at the State Department in Washington, Sept. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File) PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) — Trinidad and Tobago has signed agreements paving the way for U.S. companies to begin groundwork for installing large data centers in the Caribbean nation, sparking concerns about potential energy consumption and environmental impacts. The mem

By Rorey Bosotti August 07, 2026 Former Peruvian PM Betssy Chávez was granted asylum by Mexico in November 2025 (Source: Reuters) Mexico and Peru have agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations following a row over the granting of asylum to a former Peruvian prime minister who was charged for a 2022 coup attempt. In a joint statement released on 7 August, Lima and Mexico City said "historic ties of brotherhood, friendship and cooperation" prompted the reconciliation. The two