By Amr Magdi and Skye Wheeler 6 July, 2026 Suspended Prison Sentence for Doctor Whose Post Stirred Flood of Accounts A doctor examines a pregnant woman at a hospital in the province of Fayoum, southwest of Cairo, Egypt, February 19, 2019. © 2019 Hayam Adel/Reuters An Egyptian court sentenced doctor and filmmaker Omnia Suwydan on July 4 to a six-months suspended prison sentence and a fine of 20,000 Egyptian pounds (US$408) for alleging obstetric violence at an Alexandria public hospital. Obstetric violence, which includes physical and emotional abuse of pregnant people seeking sexual and reproductive health services, is a widespread but broadly ignored form of gender-based violence. Suwydan wrote a Facebook post on June 15 describing degrading, violent, and potentially criminal treatment of women seeking reproductive health care, including physical and verbal abuse, sexual abuse, refusal of care, and medical negligence that she said she witnessed at the government hospital. She made allegations of abuses against women that are impossible to ignore. Suwydan’s post was met with a powerful response online: Women, doctors, and advocates described humiliation, coercion, neglect, and abuse during childbirth and gynecological care in Egyptian hospitals, alleging unethical practices with little or no consequences. The flood of stories suggests that obstetric violence in Egypt is not isolated bad behavior, but a systemic problem shaped by power imbalances; particularly for lower income patients seeking free government services who face class discrimination, weak oversight, and normalization of women’s suffering. Security forces arrested Suwydan at her home in Damanhour on June 16, just hours after the post was widely shared. Prosecutors charged Suwydan with “spreading false news” and misusing a social media account before releasing her the next day on bail of 20,000 Egyptian pounds ($408), her lawyers said. For these minor offenses, authorities referred her to trial before a criminal court, which sentenced her on July 4, after two short hearings. Suwydan’s allegations should trigger a serious, independent investigation focused on patient safety. But authorities turned their machinery against the messenger. Prosecuting Suwydan sends a chilling message to women patients, survivors, doctors, nurses, and witnesses: stay silent, or risk punishment. It follows a pattern in Egypt of authorities targeting those who speak out, including a prominent economist and family members of detainees. Egyptian authorities should immediately drop the charges against Suwydan and end the use of abusive prosecutions to punish critical speech. They should treat Suwydan and other women’s accounts as an urgent public health and human rights emergency, not reputational damage to be policed. Copyright 2026 HRW. All Rights Reserved.

This Genocide Warning was first posted in October, 2023. It has proven predictive of violence since then. Genocide Watch Oct 25, 2023 People look at portraits of victims who lost their lives during ethnic clashes, at a memorial in Churachandpur district in Manipur. | AFP GENOCIDE WARNING: ETHNIC CONFLICT IN MANIPUR, INDIA October 2023 Manipur, one of India’s northeastern states, has witnessed violent ethnic conflict between the majority Meitei community and the minority tribal Kuki community for the past five months. The deadly clashes have left over 200 people dead and over 70,000 displaced.   Manipur, with a total population of 3.2 million, is geographically divided into the central valley, largely populated by the mostly Hindu Meitei, and the surrounding hills, inhabited by the predominantly Christian Kuki, Naga and other tribal communities.  The trigger for the violence was a Manipur High Court order directing the state government to consider inclusion of the Meitei in the Scheduled Tribe category. This inclusion would grant them reservations (quotas) in jobs and educational institutions. The Kuki and Naga already enjoy Scheduled Tribe status. They protested granting the same status to the Meitei, who constitute a majority in numbers and in political power. After the protests turned violent on May 3, 2023, many incidents of murder, rape, kidnapping, torture, sexual assault and arson ensued, affecting people from both communities.   The violence has driven nearly all the Meitei living in the hills to the valley and forced almost all Kuki inhabiting the valley into the hills. The state is completely segregated along ethnic lines. Even police officers are ethnically divided. Theft of weapons and ammunition from police armories has worsened the security situation. Members of both communities are crammed into overcrowded relief camps. Scarcity of basic resources and medical supplies in these camps has turned the conflict into a humanitarian crisis.   The state government, run by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has done little to restore trust between the communities. It took BJP prime minister Narendra Modi two months to even acknowledge the Manipur violence, when a video showing two Kuki women being paraded naked by a Meitei mob caused public outrage. The state has imposed long internet shutdowns, restricting access to information and stifling public protest. Manipur chief minister N. Biren Singh, himself a Meitei, blames illegal Kuki immigration from neighboring Myanmar and drug trafficking for the violence. The indigenous Kuki, ethnically similar to tribes in Myanmar, fear displacement from their ancestral lands. Manipur has a history of insurgencies. The current conflict has a communal character. Hundreds of Kuki churches and Meitei temples have been destroyed. Genocide Watch considers the ethnic conflict in Manipur to be at Stage 3: Discrimination, Stage 4: Dehumanization, Stage 5: Organization, Stage 6: Polarization and Stage 8: Persecution. The government’s repeated attribution of violence to Illegal immigration and external forces is characteristic of Stage 10: Denial. Genocide Watch recommends that the state and union government: Adhere to directions issued in the Supreme Court order of Aug. 7, 2023, for an impartial investigation into crimes perpetrated during the conflict and during distribution of relief supplies. Ensure adequate supply of medicines, food, and other provisions to relief camps. Take immediate measures to recover the weapons and ammunition looted from state armories. Restore internet services. Assist families of missing persons to identify unclaimed bodies in mortuaries. Set up a truth and reconciliation commission to initiate ethnic reconciliation and restore stability. Polarization Denial

Joint Statement of G7 Foreign Ministers on El-Obeid (Sudan) 07/16/2026 03:24 PM EDT Office of the Spokesperson Joint Statement of G7 Foreign Ministers on El-Obeid (Sudan) © UNOCHA/Giles Clarke A woman who fled fighting in El Fasher, holds her daughter who was treated for malnutrition. "Obeid, Sudan must not become the next crime scene, warn UN investigators." July 16, 2026 The text of the following statement was released by the Governments of the United States of America, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom, and the High Representative of the European Union. Begin Text We, the G7 Foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America, and the High Representative of the European Union urge the Rapid Support Forces and allied armed groups to immediately cease any action likely to lead to further atrocities or endanger civilians in El-Obeid, including drone strikes and impediments to humanitarian access. Following the atrocities committed during the Rapid Support Force’s siege and attack on El Fasher, we remain gravely concerned about alleged severe violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law across Kordofan and Darfur regions, as well as Blue Nile in Sudan. We urge the Rapid Support Forces, as well as the Sudanese Armed Forces and allied armed groups, to abide by their obligations under the rules of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, as applicable. Civilians must be protected. We call on parties to the conflict to guarantee safe voluntary passage, and to facilitate rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access into and around El-Obeid and throughout the country. We urge the Sudanese Armed Forces, the Rapid Support Forces and allied armed groups to immediately cease hostilities and to engage in direct negotiations in good faith. We call for the Sudanese Armed Forces to cease their repeated rejection of the proposed de-escalation measures and for the Rapid Support Forces to implement their commitments under the Jeddah Declaration, which they have consistently failed to do so far. We support the efforts of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy, Mr. Pekka Haavisto, to advance de-escalation in El-Obeid and support ongoing broader efforts by the Quad and the Quintet to achieve a humanitarian truce, followed by a permanent ceasefire and an independent, inclusive, transparent and civilian-led political dialogue. We are united in our determination to promote accountability for all violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law committed by all parties to the conflict. We remain committed to supporting victims and survivors, including through efforts to advance guarantees of non-recurrence. We call upon all external actors, as stated in the Berlin principles, to cease providing, directly or indirectly, armed, logistical, or financial support to the parties to the conflict and to refrain from any action that could exacerbate tensions and fuel the conflict. We call on the United Nations Security Council to expand the arms embargo on Darfur region to the entire Sudanese territory. We reaffirm our unwavering commitment to Sudan’s sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity. We reject all unilateral initiatives that risk leading to the country’s partition and remain committed to support the democratic aspirations of the Sudanese people. End Text

Deadly Ethnic Violence Spreads in India’s Manipur State New York Times May 26, 2026 By Hari Kumar Three years after riots tore apart Manipur, the state remains in disarray. Barbed wire and armed checkpoints made it difficult for Times reporters to cross, even before the recent clashes. Security personnel at a buffer-zone checkpoint between Imphal and Churachandpur in Manipur, India, in March. .Credit:..All Photographs by Atul Loke A fresh outbreak of ethnic conflict is rocking India’s remote eastern state of Manipur. Deadly ambushes, abductions and protest marches are cropping up in a land where such violence had already become routine. In the past few weeks, the fighting between the Meitei and Kuki peoples has spilled over to embroil a third ethnic group, the Nagas. Kukis have clashed with Nagas in the hills of Manipur, amid disputes over rights of residence and control of the territory. More than a dozen people have been killed, including three Kuki church leaders who were shot in an ambush on May 13. Dozens have been kidnapped. It is the most violent eruption in the region since May 2023, when clashes between the Kukis and the Meiteis killed hundreds. India’s government sent in paramilitary troops to suppress the fighting, which they achieved by severing the state into jagged parts. Displaced Meiteis at a refugee camp in Imphal, in Manipur state. Inside a building at the camp. In the past few weeks, fighting between the Meitei and Kuki peoples has spilled over to embroil a third ethnic group, the Nagas. The Meitei people, mostly inhabiting the state capital, Imphal, and the surrounding plains, remain at war with the Kuki people, who mostly live in the hills. Each group has established safe areas behind battle lines, and tens of thousands have been displaced. They frequently blame each other for outbreaks of violence. India’s national leaders have yet to comment on the latest stage in Manipur’s conflict. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the state last September, stopping for a few hours. His government has emphasized that most of the killings took place in the initial weeks of rioting in 2023 — and that Manipur’s history was already littered with similar incidents. We visited the state just before the Nagas were drawn into the violence. In March, we headed to Manipur to meet a few thousand Manipuris who regard themselves as a Lost Tribe of Israel, the B’nei Menashe. The B’nei Menashe believe they are the descendants of Manasseh, a tribal patriarch from thousands of years ago. Evidence is thin, but Israel is welcoming them “home.” Up and down India’s National Highway 2 to Manipur, there are countless roadblocks with armed guards, broad no-go zones between barbed-wire fences, and the constant threat of attack. Tens of thousands had settled into lives constricted by the Meitei-Kuki conflict, with the government handing out roughly a dollar a day to those registered as internally displaced. Their camps fill public buildings, subdivided by hanging bedsheets. Even before we set out from Delhi, it was clear that the battle lines could not be sidestepped. A market in Churachandpur. A wall of remembrance for victims of ethnic violence in Churachandpur. When we called to book a hotel in Churachandpur, Manipur’s second-largest city, the manager told us that we might not be able to get there from the airport in Imphal. A Meitei driver cannot come to Churachandpur and a Kuki driver cannot go to Imphal without the risk of being killed, he told us. We found a Nepali, ethnically an outsider to the region. On March 18 he drove us south from Imphal through Meitei-majority Bishnupur, where we saw uniformed security forces and passed through a few checkpoints, but were not stopped. Just past Bishnupur, we hit the main buffer zone that divides Meiteis to the north and Kukis to the south. The barrier, unmarked on maps, is nearly two miles across. A heavily patrolled strip of land is subdivided by at least eight official checkpoints managed by heavily armed forces answering to the government, including the army, paramilitaries and state police. Entry required proof of identity and a convincing reason. Kukis and Meiteis were not allowed to cross. Though all of this is India, the buffer zone functions like an international border between hostile countries. We saw hardly any people crossing. Similar but less militarized zones separate Manipur’s central flatlands. Graves of some of the Kuki victims who died in 2023 in clashes with the Meiteis, at a cemetery in Churachandpur. Hundreds died in the clashes three years ago. Across the state, we met Kukis and Meiteis who felt their lives had been ruined by brutal and unrelenting division. In all, about 60,000 Manipuris are unable to return to their homes, according to public records, and 10,000 houses were destroyed or damaged in the upheaval. Marauding Meiteis at the time ransacked a gynecology clinic in Imphal, run by Dr. Neiting Chagsam, a Kuki. “We suffered so much then, I can’t bear to talk about it,” she said from her spartan new home in Churachandpur, where she has started a rudimentary clinic. “I am adjusting to my new life. I don’t speak to people in Imphal now. My staff and even my Meitei patients want me to come back, but there is no way of returning.” She said she thought that only “1 to 2 percent of them suffer from hatred.” But that is enough, she said, to ruin it for the rest, and “even in our community, it is the same.” Dr. Neiting Chagsam at her new clinic in Churachandpiur. Lairenlakpam Singh, standing, a Meitei journalist, with his family at a relief camp in Imphal. “Earlier, violence would happen for shorter periods, like two or three days, and then it would be normal again,” said Lairenlakpam Singh, a Meitei journalist who was driven from his home in Moreh on the Myanmar border in May 2023 and ended up in a relief camp in Imphal. Mr. Singh, like most Manipuris we met, was perplexed by the ongoing violence, but still expected peace to return. “One day we will go back to our native place,” he said. Hari Kumar and Atul Loke traveled between Imphal, Churachandpur and Kangpokpi, all in the state of Manipur. Alex Travelli contributed reporting. Hari Kumar covers India, based out of New Delhi. He has been a journalist for more than two decades. A version of this article appears in print on May 28, 2026, Section A, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: A New Wave of Violence in India’s Forgotten War Zone. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/26/world/asia/india-manipur-violence-ethnic-conflict.html Copyright 2026 The New York Times Company

Copyright AP Photo 15 July 2026 The warnings are the latest in a series of alarms from leaders along NATO's eastern flank who suggest Russia may be trying to test the alliance as the Ukraine war drags on after more than four years. Russia is planning attacks on critical infrastructure in the Baltic states or Poland, Lithuanian and Latvian presidents warned on Wednesday, citing intelligence reports. "We are talking about energy and transport infrastructure, facilities where damage could... disrupt the functioning of the entire energy system," Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said at a joint press conference in Vilnius with his Latvian counterpart, Edgars Rinkevics. "This planning is taking place at the highest level, effectively in Moscow," he added. Rinkevics warned that Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, all EU and NATO members, must be prepared for provocative actions by Russia as it seeks to "test" the alliance's mutual defence pact amid its war in Ukraine. "Even without a total Ukrainian victory, Russia may indirectly test Article 5 and response mechanisms at the alliance and European Union levels," he said. In late June, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told a press conference "various types of escalation can be expected in the coming weeks and months", calling the situation "very unstable". Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk attends a press conference in Berlin, 24 June, 2026. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP) AP Photo Baltic and Polish officials have already linked Russia to several incidents, including arson, cyberattacks and diversions on railway lines. The Lithuanian president said his country had strengthened protection of its transport and energy infrastructure in response to the threats. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov disputed the claims. "This is just another fresh batch of scare stories designed to keep the brainwashing going and prepare the population for further militarisation," he said. Located along the Baltic Sea and bordering Russia and its close ally, Belarus, Lithuania has been a key ally to Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in 2022. Lithuania is NATO's highest security spender in relative terms, allocating 5.33%of its GDP to defence. Copyright © euronews 2026

By Omar Albam, Ghaith Alsayed, and Kareem Chehayeb 7 July, 2026 A cordoned-off area and a damaged structure in the aftermath of explosions near a hotel where French President Emmanuel Macron was meant to be staying, in Damascus, Syria, July 7, 2026. Photo by Yamam Al Shaar/REUTERS DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Explosions rocked Syria's capital on Tuesday and injured at least 18 people as France's president met with his counterpart in a landmark visit to the country rebuilding from years of civil war, Syria's Interior Ministry said. It was the second attack in Damascus in a week and a setback for President Ahmad al-Sharaa as he welcomed the first major Western leader to visit since the ouster of longtime dictator Bashar Assad by insurgent groups in late 2024. Syria's new rulers have wrestled with outbreaks of violence as they assert control, but the capital had been largely peaceful. French President Emmanuel Macron was in the presidential palace when the explosions happened. An official from the Elysee Palace said he was safe and the meeting with al-Sharaa continued, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss Macron's security. No group immediately claimed responsibility. "Nothing can smother the aspiration of Syrian women and men to live in a fully sovereign, safe, pluralistic, and united Syria," Macron said on X hours later. "This morning I met Syria in all its diversity. I saw dignity, courage and determination." Later, al-Sharaa and Macron announced they have agreed to reappoint ambassadors after more than a decade, marking a major restoration of diplomatic ties. "Our meeting marks a historical milestone," al-Sharaa said. France had closed its embassy in 2012 but symbolically reopened it in early 2025. Macron, who played a major role in pushing Europe and the United States to drop most sanctions that were imposed on Syria under Assad, was in Damascus before heading to Ankara, Turkey, later Tuesday for a NATO summit that al-Sharaa also would attend. A large plume of smoke was seen at the site of the blast near the Four Seasons Hotel, where Syrian media reported Macron was staying. Footage on social media showed a van and a motorcycle on fire and bloodstains on a busy street near the headquarters of the Tourism Ministry and the Damascus National Museum. The Interior Ministry in a statement reported by Syrian state media said one bomb had been placed in a garbage bin and the other in a parked car. It said four of the wounded were police officers, and no deaths were immediately reported. On Thursday, an explosive device detonated in a cafe near the Justice Palace, killing at least 10 people and wounding more than 20. Syria's government sees Macron's visit and the signing of over a dozen agreements with Paris and large French companies as a major boost for the country's new authorities in their bid to rebuild the country battered by a 14-year uprising-turned-civil war under Assad. France's President Emmanuel Macron and Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa shake hands on the day they meet in Damascus, Syria, July 7, 2026. Photo by Mahmoud Hassano/REUTERS One agreement was to kick off the process of returning some 51 million euros ($58.3 million) in illicit assets that belonged to Rifaat Assad, the late uncle of Assad. Other agreements included rebuilding the destroyed water and electricity infrastructure in the city of Homs, providing technical assistance to Syria's Central Bank as it undergoes financial reforms and bolstering cargo infrastructure at the Damascus airport. "The outcome of this visit confirms that Syria is steadily moving toward a new phase of international partnerships based on shared interests and mutual respect," a Syrian foreign ministry official told The Associated Press, who said the perpetrators of the attack will be brought to justice. "Attempts to destabilize the country will not alter this trajectory." The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. The explosions represent a challenge for al-Sharaa, who has pushed to assert full control over Syria, appeal to minorities skeptical of his Islamist-led rule and win the support of Western governments who were concerned about his past leadership of the formerly al-Qaida-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group. His government has promised political and economic reform after decades of autocratic rule. The conflict in Syria killed nearly half a million people and displaced millions. Infrastructure lies in ruins. While other nations and businesses have made large investment pledges, the country still needs hundreds of billions of dollars to rebuild and lift millions out of poverty. Before arriving at the presidential palace, Macron met with members of Syrian civil society, though his office did not give details. Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press writers John Leicester and Sylvie Corbet in Paris and Sam McNeil in Brussels contributed. Copyright 2026 PBS News. All Rights Reserved.

By AFP and Reuters July 2, 2026 US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the gang ⁠had also been classified as a ‘Specially Designated Global Terrorist’. Alleged members of the Chone Killers gang are presented to the media during a police operation in Duran, Ecuador [File: Marcos Pin/AFP] The US⁠ State Department has designated the Ecuadorean gang Chone Killers as a foreign “terrorist organisation”, imposing sanctions on a crime ⁠group that Washington has accused of carrying out attacks on civilians and public officials. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the gang ⁠has also been classified as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist”. “Chone Killers has committed numerous attacks targeting civilians, law enforcement officers and government officials, including high-profile assassinations of public officials,” Rubio said in a statement announcing the designations. The move against the Ecuadorian street gang ‌is part of a broader campaign by US President Donald Trump’s administration on organised crime and drug trafficking in Latin America. The Trump administration has designated several other Latin American gangs and drug cartels as “terrorist” organisations, including Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua and the Mexican Sinaloa cartel. “The Trump administration, in ⁠partnership with Ecuador and President Daniel Noboa, will continue to protect our hemisphere by keeping illicit drugs off our streets and disrupting the revenue streams funding ⁠violent narcoterrorists,” Rubio said. Rubio also alleged that Ecuadorean gangs help Mexican cartels transport and export illegal drugs, ⁠which he said fund “terrorism” and other ⁠criminal activity. Ecuador’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the US decision, saying it reflected Washington’s strong support for Noboa’s campaign against criminal organisations. “The Government of Ecuador thanks ‌the firm support of the United States for the decision by President Daniel Noboa to maintain an all-out fight against ‌criminal ‌organisations,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement posted on X. Noboa, a staunch ally of Trump, has imposed curfews and deployed the military to several provinces in a US-backed crackdown aimed at stamping out gang activity. Copyright 2026 Aljazeera. All Rights Reserved.

By Astrid Suárez July 1, 2026 A soft-spoken senator, Cepeda spent years advocating for victims of state crimes. But critics say taking on a president made him a 'hero to the left'. Ivan Cepeda concedes defeat in the presidential election at a news conference in Bogota, Colombia, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia) BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A Colombian senator, who recently lost the nation’s presidential election, said Tuesday he will not recognize his opponent, Abelardo de la Espriella, as the nation’s new head of state, if he does not comply with several demands, including renouncing his U.S. citizenship. In a statement issued Tuesday, progressive senator Iván Cepeda urged de la Espriella, the winner of June’s presidential runoff, to renounce his U.S. citizenship, arguing that holding it while being Colombia’s president could generate conflicts of interest. The senator also said that de la Espriella should clarify whether he is an “agent” of the United States, because as a criminal defense lawyer he defended a former paramilitary leader who was an informant for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Cepeda also said that de la Espriella should desist from any efforts to extradite to the U.S. outgoing President Gustavo Petro, who federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have said they are investigating for potential ties to drug traffickers. “If these conditions of legality are not met, as the leader of the opposition, I will embark on the path of peaceful civil disobedience that implies not recognizing the authority of someone who will not defend our national sovereignty,” Cepeda said. De la Espriella, a conservative lawyer who ran on a tough-on-crime platform and was endorsed by U.S. President Donald Trump, won Colombia’s presidential runoff on June 21, defeating Cepeda by 250,000 votes. Cepeda acknowledged the results of the elections three days later, after Colombian authorities validated an election-day quick vote count, which showed de la Espriella had obtained 49.6% of the votes while Cepeda got 48.7%. De la Espriella did not immediately respond to Cepeda’s accusations, or requests for him to renounce U.S. citizenship. The 47-year-old lawyer, who is set to be inaugurated as Colombia’s president on Aug. 7, was born in Bogota. He obtained U.S. citizenship as an adult after living for several years in Florida, where he ran a law firm that represented high-profile clients, including former paramilitary leaders accused of human rights abuses and businessmen charged with money laundering. Cepeda’s threat of not recognizing de la Espriella as head of state is not expected to have any legal implications because de la Espriella has already been certified as the election’s winner by the National Electoral Council. Manuel Camilo González, a political science professor at Bogota’s Javeriana University, said that Cepeda’s stance, however, could spark street protests or justify efforts to block de la Espriella’s agenda in the nation’s Congress. Cepeda’s party, the Historical Pact, has the most senators in Colombia, although it is short of the majority required to block legislation on its own. Copyright 2026 APnews. All Rights Reserved.

Genocide Emergency July 2026 By Grace Harris The Sudanese city of El-Obeid, where a drone strike killed 10 people including seven children on Monday, a medical source told AFP. (Credit: Reuters/File) Genocide Watch is issuing a Genocide Emergency Alert for Sudan. The besieged city of El Obeid, Sudan is at immediate risk of genocidal massacres as Rapid Support Forces (RSF) surround the city now held by the Sudan Armed Forces. El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan, lies between RSF-controlled Darfur and Sudan’s capital Khartoum. An 18-month battle between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF has caused siege-like conditions for this strategically-located city. A map of Sudan showing North Darfur and North Kordofan as well as surrounding countries. (Credit: BBC) El Obeid has a population of 500,000 people, including 105,000 displaced from other parts of Sudan. Relentless drone strikes and shelling have trapped them in El Obeid with nowhere to flee. Drone attacks have killed at least 50 people as of mid-July. The RSF is advancing on El Obeid with plans to take the city by force, and the threat of genocidal violence is clear. In February 2026, the RSF conquered El Fasher and massacred 60,000 civilians in just three days. After those atrocities drew global attention, an independent United Nations (U.N.) investigation found “hallmarks of genocide” in ethnically-targeted killings, systematic rape, and rhetoric calling for the elimination of non-Arab ethnic minorities like the Fur, Zaghawa, and Masalit. Experts now warn that El Obeid could be the next El Fasher as a site of genocide and humanitarian crisis on an immense scale. U.N. staff have already reported escalating violence in the surrounding region, including executions, abductions, torture, and sexual violence committed against civilians. The U.N. Human Rights Council has ordered a new investigation into El Obeid, in an effort to prevent the kind of mass violence that occurred in El Fasher. The international community must take action to stop this impending genocidal massacre. There is an imminent threat of atrocities in El Obeid and well-documented patterns of the RSF's targeted mass killings and ethnically-motivated violence against Sudan’s Fur, Zaghawa, and Masalit ethnic communities. Therefore, Genocide Watch considers Sudan to be at Stage 7: Preparation, Stage 8: Persecution, and Stage 9: Extermination. Genocide Watch recommends: The United Nations should pass a General Assembly Resolution to demand and enforce an immediate unconditional ceasefire and protect at-risk populations. The International Criminal Court should hold genocide perpetrators accountable. The needs and wellbeing of Sudanese civilians, especially members of persecuted groups, must be prioritized in international action.

By Eric Tucker July 15 2026 A Palestinian child walks along a street surrounded by buildings destroyed in Israeli military strikes during the Israel-Hamas war in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (AP, photo by Abdel Kareem Hana) WASHINGTON (AP) — Two human rights groups say Trump administration sanctions imposed on the International Criminal Court over its investigations of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza have illegally impeded their ability to advocate for Palestinians. The organizations say in a lawsuit filed Wednesday that they have been forced to censor their own advocacy work to avoid scrutiny from the White House, which in an executive order last year not only targeted the Hague-based criminal court but prohibited providing or receiving services to or from entities that have been sanctioned. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Manhattan against top administration officials by DAWN and Taxpayers Alliance Against Genocide, seeks a court order that would strike down the restrictions on their advocacy and their ability to interact with Palestinian human rights groups and other sanctioned parties. “The Trump administration is using the blunt instrument of economic sanctions not only to punish human rights defenders but to police the political expressions of millions of Americans,” said Omar Shakir, the executive director of DAWN, a U.S.-based group advocating for democracy and human rights in the Arab world that was founded by Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed in 2018. “The government is violating the constitutional rights of American citizens in order to shield officials of a foreign government who have committed a genocide,” he said in a statement. The White House did not immediately return an email seeking comment on the lawsuit. The Hague-based ICC has been investigating allegations of war crimes in Gaza during the war that began after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. A panel of judges issued arrest warrants in 2024 for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant. Netanyahu has called the warrants “absurd.” The U.S. and Israel are not among the court’s members, and neither nation recognizes its authority. In response to the arrest warrants, President Donald Trump, a Republican, issued an executive order last year that accused the ICC of engaging in “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel” and warned of “tangible and significant consequences” on those responsible for the ICC’s “transgressions.” The U.S. over the last year has slapped sanctions on Palestinian human rights groups, a series of ICC judges and staffers — including the court’s former chief prosecutor — and Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza. Her family sued in February, saying the penalties violated the First Amendment. Already, the lawsuit says, DAWN has halted work on submissions to the ICC about Israel’s conduct during the war, stopped exchanging evidence and legal analysis with sanctioned non-government organizations and abstained from collaborating with them on advocacy campaigns. It has also been forced to “discontinue its professional engagements with Albanese.” “The chilling effect on Plaintiffs has been profound,” the lawsuit states. “They now face prison terms and ruinous fines if, in their interactions with the designated parties, they provide or receive anything that Defendants could plausibly characterize as a ‘service’— an extraordinarily capacious term that potentially reaches any act that confers a benefit on its recipient. Fearing liability, Plaintiffs — and countless others like them —have turned to self-censorship.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is among the defendants in the lawsuit, denounced the court as recently as this week, pledging in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece that Trump’s administration would “dismantle the ICC — brick by brick, if necessary.” He warned that the court’s “overreach,” if left unchecked, could subject Border Patrol agents, federal prosecutors and U.S. Marines to the tribunal’s jurisdiction. “The ICC’s interfering with American military and law enforcement operations isn’t only a grave overreach of its purported authorities. It would mean the death of the U.S. as a sovereign and independent nation,” Rubio wrote. “Our decision and our people would be at the mercy of the ICC and its collaborators in the ‘international community.’ To accept the ICC is to surrender control of our national destiny.” The State Department said the campaign against the court could include additional sanctions or visa revocations and travel bans for ICC employees as well as “increased scrutiny” of nations that don’t reject ICC authority. Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

Jul 10, 2026 The 31st anniversary of the bombing of St Peter's Church in Navaly, Jaffna, was commemorated on Thursday evening, as relatives of those killed, members of the public and clergy paid tribute to the victims of one of the deadliest attacks on civilians of the entire armed conflict. The remembrance was held at St Peter's Church, where the parish priest led religious observances, after which relatives of the dead and members of the public laid flowers and lit candles in memory of the victims. On 9 July 1995, the Sri Lankan Air Force dropped 13 bombs on St Peter's Church and the nearby Sri Kathirkama Murugan Temple in Navaly, where hundreds of displaced civilians had sought refuge. The attack killed 147 people, among them women and children, and severely wounded more than 350 others. Earlier that day, the military had launched its "Leap Forward" operation, pushing into Valikamam behind artillery shelling and aerial bombardment. The relentless shelling had driven residents from their homes, and many fled to the church and the neighbouring Hindu temple in search of safety. By multiple accounts, the military had earlier distributed leaflets urging civilians to shelter in places of worship as a precaution against the fighting, and hundreds duly gathered at St Peter's Church, believing it a place of safety. Three aircraft then appeared over Navaly and dropped their bombs on the church and temple below. Many of those sheltering were killed instantly, their bodies torn apart by the explosions. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), one of the few humanitarian organisations then operating in the Tamil areas, helped in the aftermath, but many of the wounded died as nearby hospitals, the Jaffna teaching hospital chief among them, were overwhelmed by the scale of the casualties. The government and military initially denied responsibility, claiming that the strike had targeted an LTTE ammunition store and that the devastation at the church and temple had come from a secondary blast. The then head of the ICRC in Sri Lanka, Marco Altherr, publicly contradicted that account, stating that the bombs had fallen directly on the site, his conclusion resting on eyewitness testimony, including from civilians and a priest at a nearby church, that the church had been struck from the air. The ICRC protested the attack, though its protest was reportedly withdrawn after its officials were summoned to the Sri Lankan foreign ministry. On 11 July, the then president, Chandrika Kumaratunga, expressed sorrow at the loss of life and ordered an investigation. On 18 July 1995 the military confirmed that the church had been badly damaged but said it could not establish the origin of the bombs. It was not until 2020 that Kumaratunga acknowledged that the church had indeed been bombed by the Sri Lankan Air Force, calling it a mistake and saying she had criticised the air force over it at the time. Navaly remains one of the clearest instances of the Sri Lankan military striking a civilian space that had been held out as a sanctuary. Tamils were told to shelter in their churches and temples, only for those sanctuaries to be torn open by aerial bombardment, and the attack has come to stand for the wider pattern of violence visited upon Tamil civilians throughout the war. Yet even with Kumaratunga's belated admission, no Sri Lankan government has officially commemorated the dead of Navaly or accepted institutional responsibility for their killing. More than three decades on no one has been held accountable. Copyright ©️ 2024 Tamil Guardian Ltd. All rights reserved

By Yashraj Sharma July 14, 2026 Satluj, based on the life and murder of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, is still finding its audience despite the government ban. People watch a special screening of Satluj at a Sikh temple at Tatley village, in Punjab's Gurdaspur district, India, July 8, 2026. Credit: Al Jazeera, Prabhjot Gill, AP Indian authorities are investigating whether a film based on a separatist insurgency in India’s Punjab state in the 1980s and early 1990s is fit for viewers. Satluj, as the film is titled after a river in Punjab, claims to tell the true story of Jaswant Singh Khalra, a human rights activist who was tortured and killed by the police in 1995 for investigating thousands of disappearances and extrajudicial killings during a brutal government crackdown on the separatist movement. Here’s a look at the controversy. What is Satluj About? Written and directed by Honey Trehan, the 163-minute biopic is based on the life – and killing – of Khalra, a bank employee in Punjab’s city of Amritsar, who begins to investigate the disappearance of a friend and the friend’s mother, and ends up finding thousands of similar cases. The disappearances – and presumed killings – were part of a larger crackdown by Indian security forces to crush a separatist movement that aimed to establish Khalistan, an independent, sovereign state for Sikhs in Punjab. Khalra’s investigation alleged that police secretly cremated nearly 25,000 disappeared people without informing their families or maintaining official records. He continued his investigations despite threats and warnings, until he was picked up from outside his home on September 6, 1995. He was presumed to be murdered, though his body was never found. He was 42. After Khalra’s custodial murder, his wife, Paramjit, campaigned for justice, forcing the government to order an investigation by India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the allegations. Five police officials are serving life in prison for Khalra’s killing. Villagers watch a special screening of Satluj at a Sikh temple at Tatley village, in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district, India, July 8, 2026. Credit: Al Jazeera, Prabhjot Gill, AP Diljit Dosanjh, one of India’s biggest film stars, plays Khalra. The film is narrated by the actor playing the police officer who led the CBI probe. The movie has received rave reviews, with critics touting it as one of the most powerful films made in India in recent years. What is Khalistan and What Happened in Punjab? The Khalistan rebellion was one of independent India’s bloodiest internal conflicts during the 1980s and early 1990s. The separatist movement was rooted in long-running political and religious grievances over Sikh identity, demands for greater state autonomy, disputes over sharing river water with other states, and excessive federal control over the western state bordering Pakistan. Armed Sikh fighters carried out bombings, targeted killings, and assassinations, as the police and paramilitary forces launched a sweeping operation to crack down on those involved in the movement. According to human rights groups, the operation included torture, extrajudicial and custodial killings, enforced disappearances, and secret cremations. In the summer of 1984, Indian troops stormed the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Sikhism’s holiest site, which was occupied by separatist fighters at the time. Operation Blue Star, as it was called, left hundreds dead. The Golden Temple in Amritsar, India, on May 30, 1985. Credit: Al Jazeera, Ramesh Pande, Reuters Later that year, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was shot dead by her Sikh bodyguards, who held her responsible for the Golden Temple bloodshed. Gandhi’s assassination triggered anti-Sikh riots, with thousands of Sikhs killed in Punjab and the Indian capital, New Delhi, in what Sikh groups have described as a genocide. Sikh fighters responded by killing General Arun Kumar Vaidya, the army chief who had overseen the storming of the Golden Temple, in 1986. They also killed members of parliament, whom they believed to be behind the anti-Sikh violence in the middle 1980s. In 1995, the fighters killed the then state Chief Minister Beant Singh. Violence largely subsided in the mid-90s, but several Sikh groups in India and abroad are still accused by India of separatist tendencies. Who was Jaswant Singh Khalra? The story of Khalra, the human rights activist, sits in the middle of the violence and chaos in Punjab in the 1980s and the 1990s. He investigated municipal cremation records and alleged that police had secretly mass cremated nearly 25,000 unidentified bodies, an extrapolation from his research, without informing families or conducting proper legal procedures. “Khalra was not a trained human rights activist.
He was just a guy who got into activism because he saw something wrong happening in front of his eyes,” Jupinderjit Singh, an author from Punjab who has written on the violence in the state, told Al Jazeera. “It was a natural resistance against oppression, and Khalra became a symbol of that,” he added. “And the impact of the film is huge; it has shaken Punjab to the core and reopened wounds that the government thought were done,” added Singh, who saw the film last year in a private screening. “The police’s image has taken a big hit.” Why is the Government Blocking the Film? Although the Punjab rebellion was crushed, and support for Khalistan waned in the state, the Indian government continues to view separatist sentiments as a national security issue. It has not publicly explained why the film was removed, but officials have told local media that they ordered it taken down over security concerns. A report by the Press Trust of India news agency this week said the government has also constituted a committee to examine why the film’s ban on the ZEE5 streaming platform should continue. According to media reports citing sources, the committee has upheld the ban and has concluded that the film “goes against India’s sovereignty”. In a statement, ZEE5 said the film would not be available in India “until further notice” because of “current developments”, without explaining or specifying them. It added that it would explore “every appropriate avenue through due process” to restore it. Actor Dosanjh held a live session on Instagram after the film was removed from ZEE5 and told his fans that his worst fears had come to be true. Dosanjh appeared disillusioned by the years-long obstacles the film had faced. But he said he also found solace in the fact that it is now being viewed at community screenings across the country, as well as being downloaded and widely shared. “Nothing can stop the film now,” he said. People watch Satluj at a Sikh temple at Tatley village, Gurdaspur, Punjab, India, July 8, 2026. Credit: Al Jazeera, Prabhjot Gill, AP India’s film industry has come under increasing pressure since Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power. Critics say his government has been patronising far-right “propaganda” films, making them tax-free, while censoring and even banning independent movies that challenge and question the state. How are People Viewing a Banned Film? Social media users are uploading the movie onto YouTube and other platforms in defiance of the government ban. One link goes down, another pops up within minutes. Across Punjab and other parts of India, Sikh groups and activists have also converted Sikh temple compounds and village halls into makeshift cinemas to organise community screenings of Satluj. The community screenings are free of charge, with locals bringing homemade buttermilk and distributing cold drinks and snacks. At one such screening in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district, Inderpal Bains told Al Jazeera he was able to watch the film after a long wait. To him, the biopic is “a horror show of reality”. “This film talks about our pain and the dark tales our parents and grandparents lived through in Punjab,” he said. “The government is yet again burying the evidence of our sufferings.” Similar screenings have also been reported from Sikh diaspora groups in London, New York, and Toronto. “No generation should forget its history, no matter how painful it is,” Bains said. “What remains of us if we don’t know how we reached here?” © 2026 Al Jazeera Media Network