CDS Christopher Musa poses beside a truck branded in the new name and Logo of the special task force in Plateau State. Credit Golok Namwa . By Masara Kim ‘Reality Is, We Are at War:’ Plateau State Legislator (Jos) On the eve of a U.S. Congressional hearing on Nigeria’s complex civil war TruthNigeria surveyed thought leaders in the key contested battleground state of Plateau and found consensus that ascending violence is likely on the state’s horizon. The controversial Fulani ethnic militias linked to dozens of village burnings and atrocities against Christians during the last decade continue to dominate seized lands, according to local leaders and national politicians. “The [border] is so porous,” said a former member of the Nigerian Parliament, Simon Mwadkwon to TruthNigeria. “We are aware that they came from almost every part of this country,” said Mwadkwon, a former Senate Minority leader. “Even from Nasarawa State, a lot of them have moved into Plateau State,” Mwadkwon said. “They are still here, within the mountains here. They are there right now,” said Mwadkwon, who represented Plateau’s northern Senatorial district in the Nigerian Senate until 2024. As of September 2nd, there are rumors of impending terror attacks in areas south of Jos the state capital. The kinetic areas hug the state’s southwestern border with Nasarawa State, where terrorists identifying as Fulani have established camps and displaced thousands according to locals. On September 1, Fulani terrorists killed one person and burned several shops and houses near the state’s southern border with Nasarawa State, TruthNigeria learned. It was the latest in a series of attacks claiming more than five residents in the Qua’anpan County in recent weeks according to Danladi Fwankat Dimas, a local community leader. The early morning attack targeted Christian residents in a village hub located close to a large swath of forest stretching across the southern edge of Plateau State bordering Nasarawa, Dimas told TruthNigeria. “At 2:20 am, the Fulani [terrorists] attacked the town of “Nteng,” burned houses, shops and killed one person, Danladi Audu Zoelangmut of Koelakan Nteng,” said Dimas. “This is not the first time the community is being attacked,” Dimas told TruthNigeria. “Even last Friday August 29, there were multiple attacks in and around the community,” Dimas said. “On Friday at about 5:30 am the Fulani attacked Jepmorop community, a village under Nteng which shares boundary with Lafia local Government Area of Nasarawa state through Mangwat and Jibial,” said Dimas. “They burned several houses, destroyed farmlands and displaced many. Later that same day at about 3:40 pm another village near Nteng was attacked by the Fulani, who also burned houses and destroyed farm crops,” Dimas went on to say. “An hour later at about 4:20 pm they attacked Mafi, a village close to a major town of Nteng under Koelakan and killed one person,” Dimas added. A map of Plateau State showing some major terror hotspots in red. Credit Masara Kim. While residents were still ducking for cover from the terrorists fire in Quaanpan, Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff General Christopher Musa was in Jos, unveiling a new name for the joint military task force Operation Safe Haven. General Musa announced the task force will henceforth be known as “Operation Enduring Peace.” The task force is rebranding, featuring new logos, flags, and badges since its establishment in 2010. Musa acknowledged public concerns regarding effectiveness and efficiency by troops as part of reasons for the change and declared a new mandate and focus for the task force. “In practical terms, we are deploying additional personnel, enhancing logistics, and providing critical operational assets to improve effectiveness,” said General Musa at a ceremony on Friday August 29. The new name of the hybrid security outfit was cold comfort to the Plateau residents who for years have waited in vain for military units to come to their rescue during midnight attacks by swarms of Fulani ethnic militia shouting Alahu Akbar! Scores of villages and towns have been taken over in Plateau State since the infamous serious of attacks mounted over a 10-day period from Dec. 23, 2023, and dubbed “Black Christmas. From July to September 1, 2025, terrorists continued their reign, displacing civilians and seizing territories around the state’s borders. In the weeks leading up to the so-called rebranding, more than 300 residents were killed in the border areas of Bassa, Riyom, Barkin Ladi, Bokkos, Mangu, Quaanpan and Wase all of which are lined up along the borders with Kaduna and Nasarawa from the northwest to the southeast of Plateau state. TruthNigeria investigations have revealed a terrorist-led land grabbing campaign that sprang from the north, west and central parts of Plateau during the black Christmas massacre of over 280 Christians in 2023 has recently been followed by a new invasion from to the southwest, south-south and southeast of the state. “The reality is that we are at war,” says the Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Naanlong Daniel. “And the situation requires strategic efforts to see that this issue is addressed,” said Daniel recently. “As representatives [of the people], what has happened [in recent times] has exposed us to a lot of things. And I think it is only right to make sure that all the loopholes are closed, using all the information we have available,” Daniel said during a visit to the scene of a brutal murder of 27 Christians including babies near Jos. “Even though security issues are classified, I can assure you that we will escalate this [matter] to the security agencies to see how this issue can be addressed,” Daniel said, responding to concerns of residents regarding terrorist threats from surrounding states. But Senator Simon Mwadkon feels differently about the ability of federal troops to curb the situation. “You can see that if they claim they have been doing well, their effort is not good enough. Because day in day out, people are being killed,” said Mwadkwon, who pointed to Fulani militants for the attacks. “The whole issue is all about land grabbing. These people want to occupy our land. And each time we hear the military say they have repelled them. What are you repelling? People have come to kill for goodness’ sake they should also die,” he said. Despite widespread attacks and displacements, military civilian-affairs officers in several local government areas have staged so-called “peace meetings” based on the premise that 800 Plateau Christians gunned down since January first were victims of “farmer herder clashes.” Yet, eyewitness testimonies of terrorist invasions published in Epoch Times since 2021 and TruthNigeria since 2023 have found no evidence of reciprocal clashes. Governor Caleb Mutfwang has repeatedly opposed the claims, insisting the attacks in Plateau State are genocidal, aimed at ethnic displacements and territorial control. © Newspaper WordPress Theme by TagDiv

By Edward Wong and Adam Rasgon Aug. 29, 2025 The United States generally allows foreign officials to attend the United Nations General Assembly. The administration’s move comes amid a new push for Palestinian statehood. The move by Secretary of State Marco Rubio could be aimed at weakening discussion of Palestinian statehood at the United Nations meeting. David Dee Delgado/Reuters Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Friday that he would not issue visas to Palestinian officials to prevent them from attending the annual United Nations General Assembly in New York next month. The visa ban applies to officials from the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization who are not based in the Palestinian mission at the U.N., the announcement said. The State Department said Mr. Rubio was making the move to hold the two bodies “accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace.” The agency is demanding that they both “consistently repudiate terrorism,” including the Hamas-led attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and “end incitement to terrorism in education.” The department also said the Palestinian Authority, which governs the Israeli-occupied West Bank, must end appeals to legal institutions, including the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, and stop pushing countries to recognize a “conjectural Palestinian state.” The action by Mr. Rubio raises doubts about whether Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority and the P.L.O., will be able to attend the General Assembly in September, an annual conclave where world leaders discuss the most pressing global issues, from wars to famines to environmental crises. Mr. Abbas has called for the establishment of a Palestinian state and denounced Israel’s decades-old military occupation in past speeches at the U.N. He said last year that Israel was carrying out a “full-scale war of genocide” in Gaza. “Palestine will remain ours,” he told the leaders gathered at the U.N. “And if anyone were to leave, it will be the occupying usurpers.” Mr. Abbas has consistently affirmed support for a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, and in the 1990s the P.L.O. officially recognized Israel’s right “to exist in peace and security.” Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization, at the U.N. General Assembly last year. His office expressed “deep regret and astonishment” at Mr. Rubio’s decision. Dave Sanders for The New York Times The move by Mr. Rubio could be aimed at weakening discussion of Palestinian statehood at the U.N. meeting. France and Canada recently announced that they planned to recognize a Palestinian state at the meeting next month, and Britain said it would, too, if certain conditions were met. Those would be the first countries from the Group of 7 allied nations to do so; 147 nations already recognize such a state . Britain said it would reconsider doing so if Israel demonstrated “sufficient progress” toward addressing the humanitarian disaster in Gaza and toward reaching a hostage and cease-fire deal with Hamas. Britain has also said Israel must commit to “a long-term sustainable peace,” reviving the prospect of and a two-state solution for the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Britain has said Hamas, which it considers a terrorist group, should release all the remaining hostages and give up governing Gaza. The United States generally issues visas to allow foreign leaders to come to U.N. headquarters. For officials from countries under severe U.S. government sanctions, American officials restrict their movements in New York. In 2019, as the first Trump administration was carrying out an economic pressure campaign against Iran, U.S. officials announced they were barring senior Iranian officials and their family members from entering the United States. The State Department made the announcement while President Hassan Rouhani of Iran and more than 80 of his top diplomats and aides were in New York to attend the General Assembly. Mr. Rouhani and the other Iranian officials were allowed to remain in the country for the meeting. The United Nations has said the United States has no right to prevent foreign officials from visiting U.N. headquarters. The relevant law is a headquarters agreement between the United States and the United Nations that limits U.S. government efforts to restrict certain visitors to the headquarters, said Julian Ku, a professor of international law at Hofstra University. In 1988, the United States denied Yasir Arafat, the Palestinian leader, a visa on national security grounds after the United Nations invited him to speak. Mr. Abbas’s office expressed “deep regret and astonishment” at Mr. Rubio’s decision and called on the Trump administration to “reconsider and reverse” the move, according to Wafa, the government-run news agency based in the West Bank. One Palestinian official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information, said the U.S. government had been taking a long time to issue visas for officials planning to travel to New York for the meeting this year. At the end of July, Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa of the Palestinian Authority traveled to U.N. headquarters, where he attended a conference in support of the two-state solution. Mr. Rubio has been an outspoken critic of supporters of Palestinian rights and has vocally defended Israel’s military actions. Kenny Holston/The New York Times Mr. Abbas, 89, has long expressed opposition to violence against Israelis and ordered the Palestinian Authority’s security forces to cooperate with the Israeli military and the Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency — a policy that has garnered praise from Israeli officials. In a letter to President Emmanuel Macron of France in June, Mr. Abbas said that the 2023 attack in Israel was “unacceptable and condemnable” and that Hamas should immediately release all hostages. The Biden administration had said Israel must ultimately allow the Palestinian Authority to govern the West Bank and Gaza even as U.S. officials pushed for more transparency and less corruption in the authority. But the Trump administration has taken a much more hostile stance. Mr. Rubio and Steve Witkoff, the special envoy for peace missions, did not visit Palestinian officials in Ramallah on recent trips to the Middle East, in which they met Israeli officials a short car ride away. Mr. Abbas repeatedly clashed with the first Trump administration, ultimately barring senior Palestinian officials from having contact with people in that administration. During Mr. Trump’s second term, however, he has tried to rehabilitate his relationship with his American counterpart. Gideon Saar, the Israeli foreign minister, thanked Mr. Rubio on social media for “this bold step and for standing by Israel once again.” Mr. Rubio has been an outspoken critic of supporters of Palestinian rights and has vocally defended Israel’s military actions, which have come under widespread condemnation around the world. He has moved to revoke the permanent residency status and visas of foreign citizens legally in the United States who have publicly supported Palestinian rights. Federal judges have rebuked Mr. Rubio for the actions, saying they most likely violate First Amendment protections. They have ordered the U.S. government to release people detained for deportation as a result of Mr. Rubio’s moves. © 2025 The New York Times Company

By Nicholas Kristof Aug. 30, 2025 Ivor Prickett for The New York Times As debate boils over allegations of genocide in Gaza, there’s another place where all sides in the United States seem to agree a genocide is underway — yet largely ignore it. That’s Sudan, probably the site of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis today. Famine was officially declared there last year; the United Nations reports that some 25 million Sudanese face extreme hunger and at least 12 million have had to flee their homes because of civil war. Tom Perriello, who was the U.S. special envoy for Sudan until this year, tells me that he believes that the death toll by now has exceeded 400,000. In January, the Biden administration officially declared the killing in Sudan to be a genocide. In April, the Trump administration also characterized the slaughter as a genocide, and the State Department confirmed to me that it views the situation in Sudan as a genocide. So there is bipartisan agreement in the United States that Sudan is suffering both genocide and famine — and also, apparently, a bipartisan consensus to do little about it. The Biden administration was too passive, and now so too is the Trump administration. President Trump is actually slashing assistance this year to Sudan, increasing the number of children who will starve. Whatever you think of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza — and I’ve been unsparing in my criticism of Israel’s actions and America’s complicity in the bombing and starvation there — we should recognize our collective failure to address this other crisis with an even higher death toll. Neither should be seen as a distraction from the other; we have the moral bandwidth to be appalled by the enormous suffering in Sudan and in Gaza alike. This failure is global. Arab and African countries have done more to aggravate the suffering in Sudan than to ease it. The U.N. in 2005 declared a “responsibility to protect” civilians suffering atrocities, but that lofty language seems a substitute for action rather than a spur to it. Survivors describe ethnic cleansing of almost unimaginable savagery. On the Sudan-Chad border last year, a woman named Maryam Suleiman told me that in her village an Arab militia lined up all the men and boys over the age of 10 and massacred them, and then raped the women and girls. The lighter-skinned gunmen targeted her Black African ethnic group, she said, quoting a militia leader as saying, “We don’t want to see any Black people.” The racist massacres are an echo of the Darfur genocide of two decades ago in western Sudan. One difference is that this time there is far less interest, and a complete failure of political will to respond. It is “a Gaza — which is horrible enough — writ still larger,” said Anthony Lake, who was national security adviser to President Bill Clinton and later led UNICEF. “And largely off camera.” Two decades ago, the U.N. secretary general at the time, Kofi Annan, visited Darfur (and helped smuggle me in) and pushed to ease the crisis with negotiations and peacekeepers. The current U.N. secretary general, António Guterres, said in February that the world must not turn its back on Sudan, but I sometimes think that’s what he himself has done. The killing and starvation in Sudan are results of a two-year struggle between two warring generals. One faction is the Sudanese Armed Forces and the other is a militia called the Rapid Support Forces. Both have behaved brutally, starving civilians and impeding humanitarian efforts to aid the hungry. “We’re being blocked from reaching the hungry — and attacked for trying,” said Cindy McCain, the executive director of the U.N. World Food Program, which had three of its trucks carrying food aid destroyed this month by drone strikes. Aid workers say that while both sides have committed war crimes, the Rapid Support Forces are responsible for the worst atrocities, such as the burning of entire villages and the slaughter and rape of civilians. Outsiders perpetuate the war by arming both sides. The United Arab Emirates in particular, despite denials, appears to be the main supporter of the Rapid Support Forces, underwriting its campaign of atrocities. While the Biden administration refused to hold the Emirates accountable, and now the Trump administration is doing the same, Congress has provided more leadership. Some members are pushing for a ban on arms transfers to the Emirates while it continues to enable mass murder and rape. That’s a useful pressure point: The Emirates is a remarkable nation that cares about its reputation, and public pressure previously led it to pull out of the disastrous war in Yemen. What could Trump do? It would help if he called on the Emirates to cut off the Rapid Support Forces or at least end the atrocities. He could appoint a special envoy for Sudan. And he could ramp up American support for grass-roots Sudanese assistance programs, such as the emergency response rooms that run communal kitchens. World leaders will gather at the U.N. in September to repeat platitudes about making the world a better place. One test of their sincerity is what they will do for the major Sudanese city of El Fasher, besieged by the Rapid Support Forces and facing starvation. Sudan watchers fear that if El Fasher falls, the Rapid Support Forces will engage in mass killings and rapes, as they have elsewhere. “Here in El Fasher, we are starving,” Avaaz Sudan Dispatch, a newsletter that follows Sudan, quoted a civilian in the city as saying. “The responsibility is not just on those holding the guns. It’s on the world. The Arab countries. The African Union. Europe. The so-called international community. All of them.” “We know they can help,” the civilian continued. “We know they have the power to airdrop food. They have planes. They have supplies. But they are choosing not to.” © 2025 The New York Times Company

Recognising that, since the horrific Hamas-led attack of 7 October 2023, which itself constitutes international crimes, the government of Israel has engaged in systematic and widespread crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide, including indiscriminate and deliberate attacks against the civilians and civilian infrastructure (hospitals, homes, commercial buildings, etc.) of Gaza, which, according to official UN estimates, at the date of this resolution, has killed more than 59,000 adults and children in Gaza ; Recognising that these crimes are estimated to have left many thousands of people buried under the rubble or otherwise inaccessible, and most probably dead; Recognising that this bombing and other violence is estimated to have injured more than 143,000 people, with many maimed; Recognising that the actions of the Israeli government against Palestinians have included torture , arbitrary detention , and sexual and reproductive violence ; deliberate attacks on medical professionals , humanitarian aid workers and journalists; and the deliberate deprivation of food, water , medicine , and electricity essential to the survival of the population; Recognising that Israel has forcibly displaced nearly all of the 2.3 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip multiple times, and demolished more than 90 percent of the housing infrastructure in the territory ; Recognising that the consequences of these crimes have included destroying entire families and multiple generations of Palestinians ; Recognising that Israel has destroyed schools, universities , libraries, museums, and archives , all of them essential to the continued existence of Palestinian collective well-being and identity; Recognising that Israel has killed or injured more than 50,000 children and that this destruction of a substantial part of a group constitutes genocide, as emphasized in a joint declaration of intervention in the International Court of Justice case of The Gambia v Myanmar by six countries—Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom— which states “that children form a substantial part of the groups protected by the Genocide Convention, and that the targeting of children provides an indication of the intention to destroy a group as such, at least in part. Children are essential to the survival of any group as such, since the physical destruction of the group is assured where it is unable to regenerate itself.”; Recognising that Israeli governmental leaders, war cabinet ministers , and senior army officers have made explicit statements of “intent to destroy”, characterizing Palestinians in Gaza as a whole as enemies and “human animals” and stating the intention of inflicting “maximum damage” on Gaza, “flattening Gaza,” and turning Gaza into “hell”; Recognising that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has endorsed the current US President's plan to forcibly expel all Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, with no right of return, in what Navi Pillay, head of the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, has said amounts to ethnic cleansing ; Recognising that the deliberate destruction of agricultural fields, food warehouses, and bakeries and other violence that prevents food production, in conjunction with denial and restriction of humanitarian aid, indicate the intentional infliction of unlivable conditions resulting in starvation of Palestinians in Gaza; Acknowledging that, on 21 November 2024, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant of Israel, in the court's ongoing investigation opened on 3 March 2021, of crimes committed on Palestinian territory since 13 June 2014, charging them with crimes identified in the Rome Statute, in the Gaza Strip from at least 8 October 2023, including the starvation of civilians, intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population, murder, and persecution; Whereas Israel's actions in response to the October 7 attack and subsequent holding of hostages have not only been directed against the Hamas group responsible for these, but have also targeted the entire Gazan population; Acknowledging that the International Court of Justice found in three provisional measures order in the case of South Africa v. Israel — January, March, and May 2024 — that it is plausible that Israel is committing genocide in its attack in Gaza and ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent and punish the direct and public incitement of genocide and to ensure the provision of humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza; Acknowledging that leading global international law organizations and UN bodies, including Amnesty International , Human Rights Watch , Forensic Architecture , DAWN, B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights , and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories , have conducted extensive investigations and issued reports concluding that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza; Acknowledging that a number of Israeli , Palestinian, Jewish , and other scholarly experts working in Holocaust and Genocide Studies and in International Law have concluded that Israeli governmental and military actions constitute genocide; Acknowledging that international civil society has a responsibility to prevent genocide by encouraging and assisting states to fulfil their obligations under the Genocide Convention to prevent, suppress, and punish genocide; Acknowledging that putative security measures against members of a group are often pretext for mass killing and genocide as it has become in this case; Therefore, the International Association of Genocide Scholars: Declares that Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide in Article II of the United Nations Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948); Declares that Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity as defined in international humanitarian law and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court; Calls upon the government of Israel to immediately cease all acts that constitute genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity against Palestinians in Gaza, including deliberate attacks against and killing of civilians including children; starvation; deprivation of humanitarian aid, water, fuel, and other items essential to the survival of the population; sexual and reproductive violence; and forced displacement of the population; Calls upon the government of Israel to comply with the Provisional Measures orders of the International Court of Justice; Calls upon the state parties of the International Criminal Court to comply with their obligations, cooperate with the Court, and surrender any individual subject to an arrest warrant; Calls upon all states to actively pursue policies to ensure respect for their obligations under international law, including under the Genocide Convention, the Arms Trade Treaty and international humanitarian law, with regards to Israel and Palestine; and Calls upon the government of Israel and all other United Nations members to support a process of repair and transitional justice that will afford democracy, freedom, dignity, and security for all people of Gaza. Current as of 28 July 2025 Resolution passed 31 August 2025

By Emir Nader Sept 1, 2025 The genocide scholars cited, among other elements, Israel's attacks on Gaza's healthcare, aid, and educational sectors The world's leading association of genocide scholars has declared that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. A resolution passed by the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) states that Israel's conduct meets the legal definition as laid out in the UN convention on genocide. Across a three-page resolution, the IAGS presents a litany of actions undertaken by Israel throughout the 22-month-long war that it recognises as constituting genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The IAGS is the world's largest professional association of genocide scholars and includes a number of Holocaust experts. Out of its 500 members, 28% took part in the vote and 86% of those who voted supported the resolution. In a summary of Israeli policies and actions, the declaration notes the widespread attacks on both the personnel and facilities needed for survival, including in the healthcare, aid, and educational sectors. Among many other elements, it notes the 50,000 children killed or injured by Israel, as highlighted by UN aid organisation Unicef, which impacts the ability of Palestinians in Gaza to survive as a group and regenerate. The resolution also highlights the support among Israeli leaders for the forced expulsion of all Palestinians from Gaza, alongside Israel's near-total demolition of housing in the territory. The IAGS notes the statements by Israeli leaders dehumanising Palestinians in Gaza, characterising them all as the enemy, alongside promises to "flatten Gaza" and turn it into "hell". The Israeli Foreign Ministry said the report was based on "Hamas lies" and poor research, calling it an "embarrassment to the legal profession". A spokesperson added that it was Israel itself which is the victim of genocide. Israel has regularly denied that its actions in Gaza amount to genocide and says they are justified as a means of self-defence. The IAGS scholars state that while the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack - in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others taken hostage - was itself a crime, Israel's response has not only been directed against Hamas but has targeted Gaza's entire population. The 1948 UN Genocide Convention, which was adopted following the mass murder of Jews by Nazi Germany, defines genocide as crimes committed "with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group". A number of leading rights organisations, including two Israeli organisations , have also declared they believe Israel is committing genocide. The UN and a number of Western nations have said that they will only consider a ruling by a court that genocide is taking place as authoritative. The UN's top court, the International Court of Justice, is currently considering a case brought by South Africa in 2023 that argues that Israel is committing genocide. The ICJ has not yet made a determination on the subject and has granted Israel an extension until January 2026 to present its defence. Israel has accused the case of having antisemitic motivations, calling it a "blood libel", in reference to historic allegations that Jewish communities ritually murder Christian children. The IAGS say their resolution has no bearing on any case put forward to an international court. On Monday, the Hamas-run Ministry of Health said that 63,557 people had been killed and 160,660 injured during the war so far. The ministry's numbers are widely considered reliable yet they do not distinguish between civilians and fighters. In August, the UN-backed food monitor, the IPC, confirmed that famine was taking place in parts of Gaza. Israel is accused of causing the famine through ongoing restrictions on food and medical aid entering Gaza. Israel controls all border crossings into the Gaza Strip, and as the occupying power bears responsibility for protecting civilian life under international law, which includes the prevention of starvation. Copyright 2025 BBC. All rights reserved.

Houthi official says Israeli attacks will not stop group from continuing support for Gaza, ‘no matter the sacrifices’. A fire ball rises from the site of an Israeli air strike in Sanaa [Reuters] The Israeli military has bombed the Yemeni capital Sanaa, Israeli and Yemeni officials say, as tensions in the region continue to escalate amid Israel’s war on Gaza . The Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV said the attack on Sunday targeted an oil facility and a power plant in Sanaa. Israel said it also targeted a presidential palace in the Yemeni capital, which it claimed is located on a “military complex”. At least six people were killed and 86 others were injured in the attacks, according to Al Masirah. (Al Jazeera) The Israeli strikes came two days after the Houthis claimed a missile launch against Israel – part of a campaign that the Yemeni group says aims to pressure Israel to end its atrocities and siege in Gaza. “The attacks were carried out in response to repeated attacks by the Houthi terrorist regime against the state of Israel and its citizens, including the launch of surface-to-surface missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles towards the country’s territory,” the Israeli military said. Al Masirah cited a Houthi military official as saying that the group’s air defences were able to “neutralise most of the Israeli enemy aircraft participating in the aggression and forced them to leave”. Following the attack, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz: “Today we bombed the presidential palace of the Houthis. For every missile they fire at Israel, the Houthis will pay compound interest.” Katz vowed to bring “a plague of darkness and gloom” upon Yemen, even threatening to target its “firstborns” quoting from Jewish scripture. His comments follow previous statements by Israeli officials calling for the total destruction of Palestinians and describing them as the biblical people of Amalek. Footage verified by Al Jazeera showed plumes of fire and smoke rising above Sanaa after the Israeli strikes. The Houthis were quick to reiterate on Sunday that the Israeli attacks will not deter the group’s military operations in support of Palestinians. “The Israeli aggression against Yemen will not discourage us from continuing our support for Gaza, no matter the sacrifices,” Houthi official Mohammed al-Bukhaiti said in a statement. “The issue is settled for us: either eternity in heaven or eternity in hell.” Abed al-Thawr, an official in the Houthi Defence Ministry, said Israel’s claims that it attacked military targets on Sunday are “lies”. He said Israel bombed civilian infrastructure to make Yemenis suffer. Al-Thawr told Al Jazeera that the presidential palace hit on Sunday has long been deserted. “So, what Israel is doing is barbarism,” he said. The Houthi-dominated Government of Change and Reconstruction in Sanaa also called the Israeli attack a “war crime” that aims to hurt Yemenis and create a “fake victory” by showing columns of smoke above Sanaa. “The aggression proves that the Israeli enemy, with American support, is waging an open war against the Arab and Muslim nation,” it said in a statement. Hamas also condemned the Israeli strikes on Yemen, calling them “a blatant violation of Arab sovereignty and international law”. In a statement on Sunday, the Palestinian group said Israel’s “fascist aggression” was aimed at deterring Yemen from backing Palestinians. Hamas praised the Houthis’ stance, describing it as “courageous”, and called on “all Arab and Muslim countries, and all free forces” to join what it called a collective effort to end the occupation. Israel has been bombing Yemeni power plants and ports for a month. But Sunday’s attack came shortly after the Israeli navy struck a power station in Sanaa last week. On Friday, the Houthis said they launched a hypersonic missile and two drones at Israel, vowing to stand with Palestinians “until the aggression against Gaza stops and the siege is lifted”. © 2025 Al Jazeera

Photo by Voice TV Nigeria (Abuja) A Fulani militant, speaking in Fulfulde and filmed outdoors , has openly claimed responsibility for a series of massacres in Nigeria’s Benue and Plateau.A July 2025 YouTube video shows the Fulani militant confessing in Hausa, claiming responsibility for killings in Yelewata, Benue, and Plateau, and threatening further attacks until locals “surrender.”“We are responsible for what happened in Yelewata and other parts of Benue and even in Plateau. Benue is part of Nigeria, and since we are in the same country with Benue people, they should accommodate us — or they will not live in peace,” the militant declared.“We shall continue to attack and pillage their lands until they surrender. In fact, what happened in Yelewata is just child’s play —others will follow.”The statement referenced recent killings in Yelewata, Otobi Akpa, Emichi, and other communities in Benue State.Such videos and many statements from Fulani sociocultural groups are shown every time there are attacks on communities in Benue, Plateau, Taraba, Southern Kaduna and parts of Nasarawa states. Media Coverage Avoids the “Terrorist” Label Despite explicit threats in widely shared videos, despite the huge loss of lives and damages done by the terrorists, Nigerian mainstream media  (NMM) typically  avoid labeling the perpetrators as “terrorists,” or calling them by their ethnicity, often using euphemisms such  “herdsmen,” “bandits,” or “armed men.”On June 15 after the deadly Yelewata massacre, TVC, a television station owned by the current President of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu, refers to the killers as “herdsmen ” instead of calling them Fulani terrorists or  Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM).Following a deadly attack on Yelewata after 270 Christians were killed in Yelewata by Fulani terrorists, Daily Post carried the news of the attack but called the perpetrators “gunmen.”Another Daily Post Nigeria, August 11, 2025 — report on Yelewata attack; attackers called only “gunmen,” avoiding Fulani identification.Mike Alidu Magaji, National President of the Idoma Youth Forum (umbrella body of Idoma people), explained: “For example, in a Daily Post Nigeria feature story on the Yelewata massacre, attackers were consistently described as ‘herdsmen’ or ‘suspected armed herdsmen. ’ The report never explicitly called them Fulani or used the terms ‘Fulani terrorists.’”Magaji said that this trend reflects a broader pattern of avoiding ethnic identifiers to sidestep political pressure or accusations of profiling.“Since the Yelewata attack, which left over 200 people dead, there have been more than five reported attacks on many counties in Benue, all described as the work of “bandits” or “gunmen” rather than Fulani militants,” he told TruthNigeria.The euphemistic coverup is all over Channels TV as well.Friday Agbo, Director of Alterconsult Thinktank, added that Daily Trust, and other major Nigerian media outlets , including Channels TV and Arise TV, have also referred to the perpetrators as “suspected herdsmen ” without specifying their ethnic identity. Bandits vs. Terrorists Magaji explained the difference between bandits and terrorists:“Bandits are more motivated by economic realities. They kidnap, and after payment of ransom, they release their victims. However, terrorists kidnap, kill, grab lands, and spread fear.”“In fact, terrorists engage in massive killings and ethnic cleansing, which is deliberate, but the media prefer to call these terrorists ‘bandits.’ These are terrorists by every definition because their goal is not ransom but extermination and occupation,” Magaji said. “Fulani militants targeting Benue and Plateau communities are acting as terrorists, not bandits, because their attacks are deliberate, large-scale, and intended to dominate or eliminate local populations,” Magaji went on to say. Governors Confirm Fulanis Behind Terror Attacks, But Reporters Ignore Them Attempts by the media to downplay these acts of terrorism and to blur their identities have been exposed by Benue State Governor Hyacinth Alia and Caleb Mutfwang of Benue and Plateau States respectively.Alia confirmed that the recent violence in his state goes beyond the usual farmer-herder clashes. In other words, Fulani terrorists are wreaking havoc on his state. “Fifty-nine persons at Yelewata, where suspected herdsmen from Nasarawa State attacked the border town, were killed. Benue is under attack by terrorists. The crisis has gone past farmer-herder conflict,” Alia said on June 16, two days after the Yelewata atrocity.  “We are under siege. It is directed; it is planned and executed. It is some terrorism that is eating us up,” Alia tells Channels .Similarly, Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang, attempts to school media on August 2025 , highlighting the organized nature of the attacks:“There are not less than 64 communities that have been taken over by bandits… They have been taken over, renamed, and people are living there conveniently on lands they pushed people away to occupy. I cannot find any explanation other than genocide sponsored by terrorists.” American Reporter Pulls Back the Nigerian Curtain American journalist Lara Logan pulled no punches at a press conference at the National Press Club on July 27.  “Yelewata is not an isolated incident . It is a coordinated assault that has already claimed thousands of lives, displaced millions, and left countless women and children subjected to abduction, rape, and abuse,” Logan told the conference.Entire communities are being destroyed, homes burned, and cultural identities erased. Logan warns:“The human cost is staggering. This is strategic, deliberate, and cannot be dismissed as mere communal conflict. Immediate international action is required, because inaction comes at the cost of human lives and a stolen future for Nigeria’s Christians.” Luka Binniyat and Mike Odeh James are conflict reporters for TruthNigeria. © Newspaper WordPress Theme by TagDiv

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Photo by US State Dept. Human Rights Activists Call U.S. State Department Report ‘Deeply Flawed’ By Ebere Inyama “There were no significant changes in the human rights situation in Nigeria during the year 2024 “, the U.S. Department of state reports in a recent publication on its website. Though the conclusion shocked activists who rejected the assertions contained in the U.S. government’s report and called the State Department’s work “deeply flawed.” Kyle Abts, executive director on International Committee on Nigeria  (ICON) rejected the report. According to Abts, “The 2024 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Nigeria is deeply flawed. Its opening claim that ‘There were no significant changes in the human rights situation in Nigeria during the year’ is indefensible. How can that be said when Fulani militant bandit gangs continue to devastate the Northwest through killings, kidnappings, and village raids? In March 2024, nearly 400 people were abducted in Kaduna State, including 287 schoolchildren—many of them girls.” “Human rights advocates like myself feel the just-released U.S. Department of State’s 2024 Human Rights Report missed the mark on Nigeria; indeed, they didn’t even hit the target,” said Dede Laugesen, director of Save the Persecuted Christians. “The Nigerian government—and their friends at the U.S. State Department—refuse to acknowledge the almost daily attacks in these Christian Middle Belt states or the plight of victims. The Nigerian government and military control the narrative and threaten witnesses and journalists to remain silent. And, because there’s rarely any official account of the attacks, they’re treated as though they never happened. Laugesen then makes an important allegation, “As a consequence, victims in the Middle Belt receive no government assistance and no attempt to restore them to their homes and villages, which are being taken over and renamed by Muslim terrorists from the Fulani tribe with tacit government approval and impunity.” According to the U.S. report titled ‘ 2024 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in Nigeria’, the security situation in Nigeria in the year 2024 was marred by “arbitrary and unlawful killings; disappearances; torture and arbitrary arrests and detention”. “Boko Haram and the Islamic State in West Africa conducted numerous attacks on government and civilian targets, resulting in thousands of deaths and injuries, widespread destruction of property, and internal and external displacement with more than 3.6 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the north east region while in the southeast region, individuals believed to be associated with the Eastern Security Network, the armed wing of the separatist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra, staged attacks on security personnel, civilians, and government offices, including police stations, resulting in dozens of deaths and injuries, destruction of property, and reduction in economic activity”, the report stated. “There were mass killings by criminal gangs nearly every month in the northwestern states”, the report added. Abts pointed out that the State Department failed to highlight that many of these attacks were perpetrated by one group. “The report entirely omits that Fulani militants are responsible for widespread attacks against both Christians and non-Fulani Muslims across the North West, Middle Belt, and North East,” Abts said. “By contrast, the 2023 International Religious Freedom Report does explicitly cite Fulani as major perpetrators of violence. Secretary Blinken and the State Department had an important opportunity to highlight these atrocities and press for accountability. Instead, by downplaying or ignoring Fulani-linked violence, the U.S. appears to maintain a troubling hands-off approach that emboldens perpetrators and abandons victims.” Laugesen shared a similar concern. “This milk toast U.S. human rights report also fails to mention the 2023 Black Christmas massacres in Plateau, which rocked the region well into 2024, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of Christians. According to the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa, the Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM) from 2019-2024 is responsible for 47% of all civilian killings documented in Nigeria, which is more than five times the combined death toll of Boko Haram and ISWAP during the same period,” Laugesen said. And Laugesen pointed toward the Fulani as perpetrators of this violence. “The U.S. report talks about Boko Haram, ISWAP and Biafra, but not a mention is made of the violent Muslim Fulani militia kidnapping and killing in the Christian Middle Belt states of Benue, Plateau and Kaduna, where between 3 to 5 million, according to some reports—and which I have seen with my own eyes—are internally displaced and living in very harsh circumstances without government assistance. The Fulani are a Muslim dominate nomadic tribe violently taking farming and grazing lands they don’t own, with the government complicit in silence and implementing restrictions on independent reporting, giving Fulani militants support, and keeping international attention away from the active genocide taking place. In fact, Benue, where 90 percent of the population self-identifies as Christian, hosts over 2 million IDPs, the largest population of IDPs in Nigeria,” Laugesen said. Reports of Christian genocide in Nigeria prompts response from the U.S government Following the killing of 200 Christians in Yelewata, a town in Benue state, by the Fulani ethnic militia on Friday, 13 th June, 2025 , a delegation from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) led by Jessie Ainslie and the United States Congressional staffers visited Benue State to express sympathy and support for the families of the victims, according to a report by New Telegraph . The team, which was made up of eight U.S congressional staffers, said their visit is part of a fact-finding mission to assess the humanitarian situation and evaluate the effectiveness of U.S aid in Nigeria. Pope Leo XIV reacts Speaking during a recent address to a congregation at the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV described the killings in Yelewata as a “terrible massacre.”  “Most of the victims were internal refugees who were hosted by a local Catholic mission,” the pontiff said, and called for prayers for the “security, peace and justice, particularly for rural Christian communities of Benue state who have been relentless victims of violence.” Advocacy groups echo report of Christian genocide in Nigeria In its 2025 World Watch List (WWL) report, a non-denominational international Christian ministry, Open Doors International , categorized the persecution types in Nigeria into 4, namely, Islamic Oppression, Ethno – religious hostility, Dictatorial Paranoia, and Organised Corruption and Crime. “While Christians used to be vulnerable only in the Muslim-majority northern states, this violence continues to spread into the Middle Belt and even further south”, the group reported on its website. “The attacks are shockingly brutal. Many believers are killed, particularly men, while women are often kidnapped and targeted for sexual violence”, the report continued. “More believers are killed for their faith in Nigeria than anywhere else in the world”, the report added. In the same vein, an advocacy group, Save the Persecuted Christians, suggested that the killings in Yelewata was a retaliation for Bishop Wilfred Anagbe of Makurdi’s testimony before the U.S. Congress and at the U.K. Parliament in March, 2025. In the British Parliament in March, Bishop Anagbe said his flock had seen their homes torched by the Fulani militia and were forced to flee to camps set up for people who are internally displaced, according to the pontifical charity Aid to the Church in Need .  The Danger ahead In a documentary released at a press briefing held on 24 July, 2024 in Washington D.C by a non-profit organization, Equipping the Persecuted , a journalist working for TruthNigeria, Mr. Masara Kim, raised alarm over the fate of the United States of America if Islamic jihadists succeed in taking over the whole of Nigeria. “The plan of the terrorists is not just to take Plateau state or central Nigeria but to take the whole of Nigeria, and taking the whole of Nigeria is central to capturing the whole of the African continent”, Kim said in the documentary. ” The terrorists, without having a foothold on the mineral deposits in Nigeria, are able to acquire anti – aircraft machines, heavy duty machine guns, rocket launchers and even drones with which they were able to take out entire communities”, he continued. “ Imagine what they can achieve by the time they get hold of Plateau state with all its vast mineral deposits, it’s columbite and uranium, Niger state with all its gold and diamond and of course they are even pushing to the oil rich south of Nigeria”, Kim continued. “The plan of the terrorists is not just to take Plateau state or central Nigeria, but to take the whole of Nigeria and taking the whole of Nigeria is central to capturing the whole of the African continent. “By the time they get hold of all of these resources, what warhead can they not acquire? What missile can they not acquire? What nuke can they not acquire? “What that essentially means is that they will be able to launch attacks as far as the United states and that means another 9/11 is possible”, he  added. A group’s perseverance anchored on Christian faith Despite growing persecution, Nigerian Catholics hold tight to their faith. The confirmation of nearly 1,000 Catholics in Nigeria’s south east has underscored the growth of the church in the West African country. Auxiliary Bishop, Ernest Obodo of Enugu Diocese, in the southeastern part of Nigeria, conferred the sacrament of confirmation on 983 people at the Holy Ghost Cathedral on June 4, 2025. Father Aneke attributed the huge number of confirmations to several factors, including the increased longing of people for the sacraments, positive evangelization initiatives by both pastors and lay ministers, and proper catechesis and deepening of faith. Ebere Inyama reports on conflict for TruthNigeria. © Newspaper WordPress Theme by TagDiv

Read in  New York Post. Aug 26, 2025 Speak Up for Jimmy Lai, China’s Most Dangerous Dissident — And for Hong Kong’s Liberties By Nina Shea After 21 grueling months, Jimmy Lai’s national security trial is finally wrapping up in Hong Kong.   This week Lai,  China’s most famous political prisoner , may finally learn whether he will ever again taste the freedoms he so passionately championed as a self-made entrepreneur, newspaper publisher and Catholic convert — and for which he is now being prosecuted.  Perhaps more importantly, the court’s sentence will also reveal how completely the Chinese Communist Party has  swallowed Hong Kong . Since 2020, the CCP has methodically chipped away at the region’s “separate system” — the social and economic order that Beijing solemnly promised to respect when Britain handed Hong Kong over in 1997. But Lai’s arrest, and the arrests of some 2,000 other pro-democracy activists, prove how thoroughly Hong Kong’s freedoms of speech, press and peaceful protest are being suffocated. Civil rights and liberties across the board are now on trial, along with Lai.   Hong Kong’s vaunted legal system, built on British principles of fairness and the rule of law, once protected the economic vibrancy that set Hong Kong apart from mainland China. But Beijing’s National Security Law, passed in 2020, thoroughly corroded justice with its vague outlawing of “colluding with foreign powers.” Moreover, prosecutors are applying the law  ex post facto  to Lai, based on his pre-2020 publication of Apple News, then Hong Kong’s most outspoken pro-democracy newspaper — and the special security court hearing his case boasts a 100% conviction rate.   That means the only open question this week is the extent of Lai’s sentence. If the judges choose to be lenient, they could help redeem the rigged judicial process over which they preside. The NSL carries a possible sentence of life imprisonment, and in November, 45 Hong Kong dissidents received sentences of up to 10 years under its terms.   Lai, a 77-year-old diabetic, has already been  held in the maximum-security Stanley Prison  for five years. Any additional prison time means he’ll likely die behind bars. Lai’s health has deteriorated  during his years of solitary confinement in a small, sweltering cement cell. Last week he developed heart palpitations that delayed court proceedings.  China’s political prisoners have reported relentless ideological indoctrination, torture, beatings and worse: Some Uyghur Muslims, Falun Gong practitioners, Tibetan Buddhists and Catholic bishops have in recent years mysteriously disappeared or died in CCP custody.  Peng Lifa, who became known as “Bridge Man” in 2022 when he unfurled a banner denouncing Chinese communism on a Beijing bridge, was arrested immediately after the incident — and  hasn’t been heard from since . Lai’s family has pleaded for him to be released to the United Kingdom, where he holds dual citizenship and owns a home. And while the CCP is not known for clemency, especially for a fierce critic like Lai, there may be grounds to hope for an early release. The most useful precedent may be the case of David Lin, a Taiwanese-American Christian pastor.  Sentenced to life in prison after being convicted on trumped-up charges of evangelizing, Lin was locked up for 18 years in a jail for foreigners where the slightest infraction — sharing food, hanging socks up incorrectly — brought harsh restrictions. Last October, reportedly after a US prisoner exchange, the CCP freed the ailing 68-year-old Lin and allowed him to return to the United States. China also has been known to parole very sick prisoners of conscience like Liu Xiaobo, the first Chinese Nobel Peace Prize laureate.   Authorities imprisoned Liu for “subversion” in 2008 after he called for the end to China’s one-party system.  The CCP granted his release in 2017, three years before his 11-year sentence ended, and he  died of liver cancer  two weeks later. And when a case causes the CCP to worry about hits to its international image, it may punish more discreetly with house arrests and secret detentions — typically without due process.  Seven Roman Catholic bishops are among those now indefinitely detained without trial, and Hong Kong’s world-famous Cardinal Joseph Zen has been under investigation for violating the NSL since 2022.  The CCP tightly restricts Zen’s travel and has silenced his criticisms by publicly threating to confiscate the island’s Catholic schools. All this means international voices in London, Washington and beyond must raise the alarm about Lai’s imminent sentencing.   President Donald Trump should press the issue, too, perhaps starting with a push to rename the street connected to China’s Embassy in Washington as “Jimmy Lai Way.” Such a gesture would honor a true hero of freedom— while posting a very public rebuke of the CCP’s repression. Copyright 2025 New York Post Read in  New York Post.

By Jack Budlow and Amber Madden-Doyle Image by JamesDeMers  from Pixabay Genocide Watch Special Report ‘Alligator’ Alcatraz August 2025 Genocide Watch is alarmed by the ongoing human rights violations occurring at the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” migrant detention facility in Florida. A US District Court Judge has ordered the detention facility closed due to the government's failure to meet environmental impact requirements. So the rights of alligators and panthers have been recognized. But "Alligator Alcatraz" should be shut down because of its violations of basic human rights in both US and international law. Conditions: People held at Alligator Alcatraz are faced with inhumane conditions. Basic needs are not met. Food portions are so small that inmates experience symptoms of starvation . The hastily assembled facility is doing a poor job of protecting inmates from the extreme heat  of the Everglades. Fresh water is scarce  due to the poor infrastructure of the facility. The toilets — shared by up to 32 people each—often clog, rendering them unusable. They erupt close to living quarters. The staff often takes hours to clean up the mess. Heavy rains have already caused dangerous flooding . The approaching Florida hurricane season threatens the lives of the people held there. Mosquitoes  have overtaken the facility. Prisoners are sprayed with mosquito repellent only once, upon arrival. Thereafter they face a torturous daily battle against mosquitoes that make it difficult to eat, shower, and sleep. Exposure to mosquitoes and fecal matter, and lack of access to hygiene makes the prison a fertile ground for the spread of disease. The conditions of Alligator Alcatraz are violations of international human rights law. The right to food means that a state is obligated to “respect, protect, and fulfill”  the right of prisoners to adequate food. The small amount of food provided to prisoners violates this basic human right. UN General Assembly resolution 45/111  details the obligations of a state to its prisoners. “Prisoners shall have access to the health services available in the country without discrimination on the grounds of their legal situation.” Prisoners at Alligator Alcatraz face systematic neglect  in their lack of access to doctors. They are also denied adequate hygiene facilities maintain their own health care. Grounds of Detention: President Trump has stated that the facility is reserved for “deranged psychopaths” and “the most vicious people on the planet awaiting deportation”  and "menacing migrants”. By falsely portraying the prisoners as career criminals, Trump is simply lying. Over 250 detainees committed no offense except a civil (not criminal) violation of immigration laws. The ICRC  notes that “systematically resorting to the detention of irregular migrants, regardless of their individual personal circumstances, is in contradiction with the right to liberty and security of person – one of the most fundamental human rights. Detention should be a measure of last resort and non-custodial measures should always be considered first.” Detainees have a legal right to be informed of the reason for which they are detained.  Detainees at Alligator Alcatraz receive no written charges detailing the grounds for their detention. Legal Access: The UN’s Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers  prescribe the duty to provide all prisoners with access to lawyers. Detainees at Alligator Alcatraz are denied any access to lawyers to represent them. No lawyers are even permitted to enter the facility. The United States District Court for the District of Miami has upheld  these illegal restrictions. UN Human Rights Council resolution 31/31  details safeguards to prevent torture during police custody and pretrial detention. It requires “permitting prompt and regular medical care and legal counsel at any stage of detention and visits by family members.” Many Alligator Alcatraz detainees do not know where they are. Their families often do not know if they are even alive. Prisoners in federal custody must be held without discrimination based on race. According to the testimony of Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin , who visited Alligator Alcatraz, the largely Hispanic and Black population held at the prison were arrested because they fit profiles based on the color of their skin. Freedom of Religion: Detainees are being denied their right to freedom of religion. Detainees report having their Bibles confiscated. A prison officer told a detainee that his “right to religion did not apply in the facility” . Prisoners are denied access to pastors.  The American Civil Liberties Union states that detainees “ are barred from practicing their religion”. Freedom of religion is a fundamental human right, guaranteed by international treaties, including the I nternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The right does not disappear in detention. Detainees must be permitted to pray and worship, and receive visits from priests, pastors, imams, and other religious representatives. They have the right to possess scriptures and religious objects.  Alligator Alcatraz is violating this most basic human right. The current dehumanization, inhumane treatment, and forced deportation of migrants in the USA violates both the United States Constitution and international law. The Trump administration must stop its violation of the fundamental human rights of detainees at “Alligator Alcatraz.” “Alligator Alcatraz” must be closed immediately.

Kosovo authorities opened a new river bridge in the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica, a move seen by Serbia as a political stunt that "undermines peace". Xhorxhina Bami and Florinda Kelmendi, August 26, 2025 The new bridge for vehicles connecting South Mitrovica and North Mitrovica, a few meters from the main bridge in the city, which is closed to traffic. Photo: BIRN. Just a few meters from the bridge that divides South and North Mitrovica, across which cars are not allowed to pass, the Kosovo government opened a new bridge on Tuesday, despite objections from local ethnic Serbs and warnings from the international community. Acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti said on Facebook on Tuesday morning that “less than two months were needed to construct the 36th bridge in Kosovo over the Iber river. The bridge is open for vehicles as of today from 9am”. Kurti also announced that work on a new pedestrian bridge nearby will be finished by the autumn. The Serbian authorities view the opening of more bridge crossings as a security threat, believing it will encourage more ethnic Albanians to settle in the Serb-majority north of Mitrovica. Kosovo’s Western allies fear that such moves, if not agreed by all sides, will raise tensions. In June the EU tested the load capacity of the main bridge in the town, which is currently not open to car crossings. At the time, the EU’s office in Pristina urged Kurti to refrain from making unilateral moves. “The EU is closely coordinating with its international partners in Kosovo regarding the future of the bridge,” the office told BIRN. “In the meantime, we call on the Kosovo authorities to refrain from any uncoordinated actions, including the construction of adjacent bridges. All agreements of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue [process], including those related to the bridge, must be fully implemented,” it added. In July, Kosovo Serbs gathered in front of the office of the Belgrade-backed Srpska Lista party in North Mitrovica to sign a petition against the construction of the two new bridges which connect the northern Serb-majority part of Mitrovica with the southern Albanian-majority part.  On Tuesday the deputy director of the Kosovo police for the north of the country, Veton Elshani, urged the public to be “careful and not incite hatred” over the bridge issue.  “There is no need to come here and be provocative, we have sent the same message in the north so they do not worry, because we are here for everyone’s safety,” Elshani said, emphasising that it was simply “a bridge for the movement of vehicles and people”, rather than being any kind of symbolic act. But Petar Petkovic, the head of the Serbian government’s office for Kosovo, wrote on X that “the unlawful opening of Kurti’s bridge is a new escalatory move that directly undermines peace” in the north of Kosovo. “The opening of the bridge tramples on the dialogue agreements and represents a slap in the face to the EU,” said Petkovic. He alleged Kurti “chose to open the bridge today” because it was timed during the visit to Belgrade of Peter Sorensen, the EU special envoy for the Kosovo Serbia dialogue. Petkovic described the move as “a brutal destruction of the [Kosovo-Serbia] dialogue”. Copyright BIRN 2007

By Edith M. Lederer, August 22, 2025. Syrians gather to mark the anniversary of a chemical weapons attack carried out by Bashar Assad's forces in Eastern Ghouta in 2013, in the town of Zamalka on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki) Syria’s transition remains “on a knife-edge” and violence could resume at any moment in the southern city of Sweida, which saw deadly clashes last month, the top U.N. envoy for Syria warned on Thursday. Geir Pedersen told the U.N. Security Council that while violence in Sweida has largely subsided following a ceasefire, “the threat of renewed conflict is ever-present — as are the political centrifugal forces that threaten Syria’s sovereignty, unity, independence and territorial integrity.” Syria is grappling with deep ethnic and religious divisions following the ouster of Syria’s autocratic President Bashar Assad in December, which brought an end to decades of Assad family rule. The transition has proven fragile, with renewed violence erupting in March along the coast and in July in Sweida, a city with a significant Druze population, highlighting the continued threat to peace after years of civil war. Clashes erupted in Sweida on July 13 between Druze militias and local Sunni Muslim Bedouin tribes, and government forces intervened, nominally to restore order but they ended up essentially siding with the Bedouins. Israel intervened in defense of the Druze, launching dozens of airstrikes on convoys of government fighters. Pedersen said in a video briefing to the council that although the July 19 ceasefire agreement has largely held, “we are still seeing dangerous hostilities and skirmishes on the margins of Sweida. And violence could resume at any moment,.” Pedersen expressed concern that “a month of relative military calm belies a worsening political climate, with escalatory and zero-sum rhetoric hardening among many.” The U.N. envoy said there is an urgent need for security forces under the transitional government led by interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa to demonstrate that they are acting to protect all Syrians. Pedersen called for major security sector reforms in Syria and the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of non-government forces. He warned that international support for Syria “risks being squandered or misdirected” without a genuine political transition that lays the path for long-term stability, good governance, credible reforms and a firm commitment to the rule of law and justice. U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher called the humanitarian situation in Syria “dire,” saying 16 million people across the country need humanitarian support. He said aid workers need protection and safety, noting that humanitarian convoys came under fire this month. He said money for food and other assistance is desperately needed, pointing to the U.N. humanitarian appeal for $3.19 billion for 2025 being only 14% funded. Copyright 2025 The Associated Press.