Voting Rights Advocates Continue Legal Challenges to Executive Order Restricting Mail-in Ballots

Millions of votes could be thrown out in the upcoming midterm elections if the Trump administration has its way of restricting eligibility without any valid reasons

By Abayomi Azikiwe

Editor, Pan-African News Wire

Wednesday July 22, 2026

Political Review

Claims of non-citizens voting in federal elections has been a false claim made by the “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) tendency for at least a decade.

When the current United States President Donald Trump won his first term of office in 2016, he failed to win the majority of popular votes and was placed in office strictly on his numbers within the electoral college. 

Even after being placed in the White House in 2017, Trump declared that his deficit in popular votes was due to massive fraud where people who were not qualified were able to cast ballots. Just four years later in 2020, he declared that the national elections were stolen since he lost by seven million popular votes and over 100 electoral. 

Since taking office in January 2025 for his second non-consecutive term, Trump has issued numerous executive orders to curtail bourgeois democratic rights. He has declared that the 14th Amendment birthright citizenship clause should be revoked which a recent Supreme Court decision declared unconstitutional.

In March there was another executive order which called upon the United States Postal Services (USPS) to not deliver absentee ballots in states where data from voters’ rolls are not first approved by the administration. Obviously, this executive order is designed to counter the low approval ratings among the electorate for the Trump administration. 

This executive order directly challenges the role of the states in conducting, tabulating and transmitting votes in any given federal election. If this executive order is upheld by the courts, it would mean that the White House would determine which votes are legitimate or illegitimate. 

Such authority over voting rights could easily determine which party controls Congress in the upcoming year. Even though there is widespread opposition to the US-backed genocide in Palestine and the unprovoked illegal war against the Islamic Republic of Iran, the MAGA administration would be allowed to continue its domestic and foreign policy agenda.

Restrictions on mail-in ballots would undoubtedly enhance the already widespread redrawing of Congressional maps in the several southern states aimed at massive disenfranchisement of African American voters. These political maneuvers are taking place 61 years after the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which was won through mass struggles that emerged during the late 1950s into the middle of the next decade.

A federal district court decision in late June was praised by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since the ruling appeared to uphold existing voting rights laws related to mail-in ballots. The President and CEO of the NAACP, Derrick Johnson, issued the following statement on June 25 saying:

"Donald Trump's desperate attempt to hijack the United States Postal Service and use it as a tool for voter suppression was a clear overreach of executive power. The Constitution is unequivocal– states run our elections, not the President. Mail-in voting, which has been used by the president, is a secure, vital lifeline for millions of citizens — particularly Black voters, working families, elderly residents, and rural communities who already face immense systemic barriers at the ballot box. By stopping this unlawful executive order, the court has halted an aggressive attempt to breed chaos, delegitmize local election officials, and mass-disenfranchise eligible voters. The NAACP will remain a fierce advocate in courtrooms and communities across this nation to ensure that every eligible voter can cast their ballot freely, fairly, and with full confidence that it will be delivered and counted." (https://naacp.org/articles/naacp-celebrates-federal-court-ruling-striking-down-executive-order-threatening-mail)

The Struggle Continues

Demonstrations of millions against the administration have taken place since the spring of 2025. Many Congressional races over the last several months have resulted in victories for progressive Democrats who have run in primary and general elections. 

Despite the unpopularity of the current administration and its policies, a California Appeals Court recently ruled in favor of some aspects of the Trump executive order on mail-in ballots. Yet, other legal challenges are continuing in California and around the country.

In a statement issued by a coalition of voter rights groups in Massachusetts on July 21, it emphasizes that:

“A coalition of nonpartisan voting rights groups renewed their urgent request for a preliminary injunction to block the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) from implementing portions of President Trump’s 2026 executive order restricting mail-in voting. Their motion argues that the executive order is unconstitutional, unlawful, and harmful to voters and the organizations that serve them. The motion filed late yesterday is the second time the groups have asked the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts for a preliminary injunction. Their first request was denied earlier this month on the grounds that USPS was already barred from carrying out the executive order due to a preliminary injunction issued in separate litigation in the District of Columbia. However, the District of Massachusetts court expressly said the groups could refile their request for relief if the injunction in the D.C. case was stayed. On July 17, the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit stayed that injunction, allowing USPS to move forward in implementing President Trump’s order in some states.” (https://www.naacpldf.org/press-release/voting-rights-groups-file-renewed-request-for-preliminary-injunction-to-block-executive-order-restricting-mail-in-ballots/)

Yet, the inconsistency of the courts cannot be relied upon to protect voting rights. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was won as a result of tremendous sacrifice. 

People were jailed, beaten and killed just to be able to cast a ballot for the candidate of their choice. By 1965, urban rebellions were emerging as the principal form of struggle against racial injustice and class exploitation in the U.S. 

In subsequent court challenges from civil rights organizations prompted the redrawing of Congressional maps which could provide greater opportunities for African Americans to elect candidates from their communities. The recently handed down Louisiana v. Callais ruling has severely restricted the ability of African Americans to elect candidates since in states such as Tennessee, the MAGA majority state legislature has been allowed to break up a majority Black Congressional district surrounding Memphis.

Since the African American community typically votes for Democratic candidates, the administration in Washington is utilizing this Supreme Court decision to maintain their control over the House of Representatives and Senate. Since the MAGA Republican politicians rarely oppose Trump and his policies, one can only assume that if left up to the Congress, the domestic repression carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) along with the imperialist wars in Palestine, Lebanon, Iran and Ukraine will continue in perpetuity.

Mass Actions and Electoral Politics

It must be emphasized that the right to vote for African Americans and Women was achieved through militant demonstrations and various forms of civil disobedience. The Civil War between 1861-1865 set the stage for the passage of the 13th Amendment which ostensibly declared involuntary servitude as being unconstitutional.

The 14th Amendment passed by Congress in 1868 was designed to solidify the enforcement of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 which aimed at guaranteeing equal rights and due process to African Americans.  Later in 1870, the 15th Amendment was ratified to protect voting rights for the formerly enslaved persons in the U.S.

Nonetheless other methods of resistance have taken place over the last 70 years involving the Civil Rights and Black Liberation Movements. Economic boycotts have proven effective as what was done in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955-56 involving the city buses.

Beginning in 1960, students launched the sit-in campaigns to break down legalized segregation in public accommodations. Mass demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama and other southern municipalities from 1963-65 were always accompanied by economic boycotts of businesses within the cities.

In the mid-to-late 1960s, urban rebellions led by African Americans placed a sense of urgency to the ruling class for the implementation of reforms in regard to open housing, affirmative action and admissions to previously all-white municipal, corporate and educational institutions. Once admitted to these sectors of the labor market, many African Americans have sought to improve the operations of these public and private entities.

Underlying the ongoing crises, it is important to continue applying pressure on the ruling class through legal challenges, mass demonstrations, economic boycotts and urban rebellions. Absent of these tactics and others, there cannot be an effective fightback to the rising racism, national oppression and economic exploitation still prevalent in U.S. society.

US Bombs Iran for 12th Night, Explosions Reported in Three Provinces

By Al Mayadeen English

The US Central Command said American forces launched new attacks on Iran as strikes were reported in Hormozgan, Bushehr, and Khuzestan provinces.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced Thursday that US forces carried out new attacks against Iran, marking the 12 consecutive night that American airstrikes targeted the Islamic Republic. 

An Al Mayadeen correspondent in Tehran reported that the provinces of Hormozgan, Bushehr, and Khuzestan were subjected to US aggression.

The governor of Bushehr said that an area in the province came under attack by the US enemy early Thursday morning, adding that no reports of human casualties had been received.

US strikes martyred dozens, wounded hundreds

Iran's Health Ministry said Wednesday that 53 people have been killed and 592 others injured in US strikes carried out during the latest phase of Washington's war on the Islamic Republic.

Health Ministry spokesperson Hossein Kermanpour announced the updated figures in a post on X, saying the casualty toll had risen since the ministry's previous assessment.

On July 19, Iranian authorities reported that more than 50 people had been martyred and 518 injured in US attacks.

"From July 27 to 8:30 a.m. today (July 22), U.S. airstrikes have left 592 injured and 53 martyrs," Kermanpour wrote.

Iran's Health Ministry spokesperson continued, "Among the martyrs, there are 6 women and 3 under 18, and among the injured, 39 women and 23 under 18 years old. So far, 535 people have been discharged after treatment, 36 remain hospitalized, and 21 have been treated on-site."

Fighting resumed after US-Iran memorandum collapsed

The latest casualty figures come as the US war on Iran continues to escalate following the collapse of a memorandum signed on June 18, which had temporarily halted the war that began following the US-Israeli attacks on February 28.

Since July 8, US forces have launched multiple waves of strikes against civilian targets in Iran. US Central Command has said the attacks were carried out in response to Iranian actions against commercial shipping transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Washington imposed its own blockade on Iranian ports, further disturbing shipping. 

Iran has allowed ships to pass through designated routes, targeting only those who fail to comply with Tehran's maritime law. 

Iran has responded with a series of retaliatory strikes targeting hostile US military positions across the region, including bases in Jordan and Kuwait, while Iranian officials have warned that further attacks will continue as long as US military operations persist.

Turkish Parliament Extends Somalia Military Mission by Two Years

By Al Mayadeen English

22 Jul 2026 21:44

Turkey's parliament approved a two-year extension of its military mission in Somalia, allowing Turkish forces to continue training and supporting Somali security forces.

Turkey's parliament has approved legislation extending the deployment of Turkish forces in Somalia for another two years, reaffirming Ankara's long-term military and security partnership with the East African nation.

The new mandate, which takes effect on July 27, authorizes Turkish forces to continue training the Somali Armed Forces while providing military advice and technical support to strengthen the country's security institutions.

According to the legislation, the mission will also contribute to efforts to combat al-Shabaab, piracy, illegal fishing, arms smuggling, and other security threats in Somalia's territorial waters.

A government memorandum submitted to parliament and signed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said extending the deployment was essential to enhancing the capabilities of Somalia's security forces and supporting stability across the Horn of Africa.

Ankara deepens defense and maritime cooperation with Somalia

Alongside its military advisory mission, Turkey continues to maintain a naval presence off Somalia's coast to safeguard its offshore energy operations.

The Turkish naval vessels TCG Goksu, TCG Gelibolu, and TCG Bartin, operating as part of the Somalia Maritime Task Group, are providing protection for the drilling vessel Cagri Bey and its accompanying support ships.

The parliamentary decision comes as Somalia continues military operations against al-Shabaab while seeking to strengthen its national security forces and improve the protection of its coastline and maritime resources.

Cooperation between Ankara and Mogadishu has steadily expanded in recent years to include military training, defense cooperation, maritime security, and capacity building, which reflects Turkey's broader initiative to increase its influence in the Horn of Africa.

Bloomberg reports that Turkey's largest overseas military base is located in Mogadishu, where it trained over one-third of Somalia's army since 2017. 

Reports from earlier this year indicate that Turkey deployed F-16 fighter jets, tanks, and helicopters to reinforce Somali government positions as it combats al-Shabaab. 

Ankara is further developing a naval base and a ballistic missile test range in Somalia, with construction beginning early this year on what would be Turkey's first overseas spaceport. 

Alongside military support, Turkey invested in Somalia's civic infrastructure, building schools, hospitals, and an airport in Mogadishu.

Cuban Strong Rejection of New Slanderous Campaign by the State Department

Unable to conceal its hidden admiration for the epic of the Cuban Revolution, the report reveals the fear of a nuclear superpower in the face of the example of the ideal of social justice and defense of sovereignty. It demonstrates an inferiority complex toward a national program that prioritizes the people over the elites

Author: Minrex | informacion@granmai.cu

July 22, 2026 11:07:21

Cuba rejects, in the strongest terms, the report published on July 20th by the United States Department of State, concerning the alleged subversive influence of Cuba against that country. It is a mediocre propaganda pamphlet. It aims to bolster the mendacious message that Cuba poses a threat to the United States, a pretext that the U.S. government uses for collective punishment and genocide against the Cuban people. It seeks, through the construction of accusatory narratives, to fabricate a consensus for a potential military aggression.

It is hypocritical for the State Department to accuse Cuba of promoting subversive activities when it is well known that the U.S. government allocates tens of millions of dollars from its federal budget each year to subvert internal order in Cuba, provoke hunger and desperation, and overthrow the Cuban government. This is done by the same government with a sordid history of interference and violations of international law, which carries out extrajudicial executions in international waters, practices political assassination, sponsors acts of genocide, attacks sovereign nations on every continent, and interferes in the electoral processes of sovereign states.

It is also hypocritical to persist in the lie of labeling Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism. It is evident that neither this nor any other report can present any evidence, not even the slightest indication, for such an illegitimate accusation, since none exists, as is known to specialized agencies of the U.S. government itself. It is, however, common knowledge that those who finance, organize, and instigate violent and terrorist acts against Cuba have found protection and total impunity on U.S. soil.

This report fits into the discourse of supposed "left-wing terrorism," a novel concept that the U.S. government, and in particular its Secretary of State, are eager to promote as the new enemy. They seek, in this way, to attack any progressive trait, social commitment, or leftist expression within and outside U.S. territory, to increase repression, and to establish a neo-McCarthyism.

The aim, in particular, is to repress and attack the U.S. population itself and to intimidate those who express solidarity, including those who denounce their government's unjust aggression against Cuba. It is recognized that a growing sentiment in the United States, including among Cubans living there and their descendants, opposes the energy embargo, the strangulation of the Cuban economy, and the threat of military aggression.

The State Department persists in questioning Cuba's ties with other sovereign nations, as if international law had disappeared. It manipulates and distorts Cuba's widely recognized history of solidarity, anti-colonialist and internationalist stance, even within the United States. Every year, Cuba suffers repeated and forceful isolation at the United Nations for refusing to end the economic blockade.

Unable to conceal its hidden admiration for the epic of the Cuban Revolution, the report reveals the fear of a nuclear superpower in the face of the example of social justice and the defense of sovereignty. It demonstrates an inferiority complex toward a national program that prioritizes the people over the elites.

As it has always done, Cuba will continue to foster friendly relations with the American people and institutions, in strict adherence to international law, the Charter of the United Nations, and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

Havana, July 21th, 2026

The Return of McCarthyism: The Farce of the Report That Makes Cuba the Perfect Enemy

The State Department report against Cuba lacks supporting evidence and is built on an ideological narrative that recycles Cold War tropes

Author: Raúl Antonio Capote | informacion@granmai.cu

July 22, 2026 11:07:34

Rhe State Department report, published on July 20th, 2026, under the title "Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Subversion," accessible through the official domain state.gov, accuses Cuba of fostering "left-wing extremism" in the United States and of having woven a network of espionage and influence to "undermine American interests."

To begin with, the text in question lacks supporting evidence, is built on an ideological narrative that recycles Cold War tropes, and systematically omits the context of asymmetric aggression that Washington has maintained against the island for more than six decades.

The document is organized around a classic conspiracy theory: a foreign state actor—Cuba—is manipulating U.S. social, academic, and political movements to destabilize domestic order and alter U.S. foreign policy.

To this end, according to the document, Havana has deployed a "network of espionage and influence" that overlaps with legitimate U.S. left-wing organizations. However, upon closer examination, it becomes clear that the text offers not a single piece of verifiable evidence: it cites no open legal cases, identifies Cuban agents by name, presents no intercepted communications, and offers no declassified intelligence documents to corroborate its claims.

This lack of evidence is particularly striking because law and diplomatic practice require that accusations of such gravity—implying violations of sovereignty and interference in internal affairs—be supported by a solid evidentiary basis.

What the report offers, instead, is a collection of inferences and a rhetoric of "guilt by association": the mere fact that a group shares critical views of the embargo or establishes academic exchanges with Cuban institutions becomes evidence of subordination to a supposed intelligence strategy.

This is not the first time the State Department has resorted to this pattern. Its annual reports on terrorism and human rights have been criticized by UN rapporteurs and organizations like Amnesty International for using lax evidentiary standards when dealing with countries that do not align with U.S. foreign policy.

In this particular case, the lack of evidence turns the report into a propaganda exercise that appeals more to fear than to rational analysis.

One of the most revealing aspects of the text is its hermeneutical framework: all opposition to U.S. foreign policy toward Cuba is presented as illegitimate per se, and any ideological affinity with the Cuban socialist project is automatically coded as part of a "hostile intelligence operation." This discursive operation has two serious consequences.

First, it strips U.S. political actors of agency by assuming that African American organizations, unions, anti-racist collectives, climate justice movements, and solidarity groups could not have arrived at critical thinking on their own. The report infantilizes civil society and ignores decades of history of international solidarity.

Opposition to the blockade is not an invention of Havana: it has been articulated by Nobel laureates, religious leaders, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, numerous UN General Assembly resolutions, and editorials in media outlets such as The New York Times, which in 2022 described the embargo policy as "an obsolete failure."

Second, we see that the report contributes to a climate of criminalization of protest and dissent that has been growing in the US. The notion that domestic criticism is orchestrated by an external enemy serves a precise political function: to divert attention from domestic failures and stigmatize those who demand change.

Historically, this tactic has been used to justify surveillance and repression of legitimate movements, from McCarthyism to the criminalization of the Black Lives Matter movement through unfounded narratives about "foreign infiltration".

THE STRUCTURAL OMISSION: THE HISTORY OF ASYMMETRIC CONFLICT AND U.S. AGGRESSION

Perhaps the report's most serious flaw is what it deliberately omits. Readers unfamiliar with the bilateral history will find no mention of the following widely documented facts:

The economic, commercial, and financial blockade, formally imposed in 1962 and intensified by laws such as the Torricelli Act (1992) and the Helms-Burton Act (1996), constitutes the cornerstone of a policy of encirclement that has cost the Cuban economy billions of dollars.

Armed aggression and state terrorism, the assassination plots against Cuban leaders documented by the Senate Church Committee, and the tolerance shown toward violent Cuban-American groups operating from U.S. territory are also omitted.

The systematic interference in Cuba's internal affairs, through federal funding of "democracy promotion" programs that, under the guise of aid, have been used to incubate destabilization operations.

Any serious analysis of the alleged Cuban "network of influence" should begin with a realistic premise: a small state, blockaded and subject to a permanent campaign of harassment, will naturally seek alliances within the civil society of the hostile country to break its isolation, just as any other state would in similar circumstances.

This search for spaces of political and diplomatic influence—through contacts with members of Congress, solidarity trips, academic exchanges, or medical brigades—falls within the legitimate exercise of public diplomacy, not espionage.

Confusing these two spheres is a distortion that can only be sustained by completely ignoring the context of siege that gives rise to it.

THE DEGRADATION OF POLITICAL DISCOURSE AND THE RESURRECTION OF A NEW-FASHIONED MCCARTHYISM

The report in question is not an isolated piece, but rather a symptom of a broader drift in U.S. policy. In recent years, a governing practice has become entrenched that consists of identifying an external enemy to blame for all internal tensions.

This document constructs a narrative in which Cuba becomes the "capital of 21st-century subversion," a hyperbole that contrasts sharply with the reality of an island barely managing to cope with the consequences of the tightened embargo.

The power asymmetry is so overwhelming that the image of a Cuba remotely controlling the minds and actions of U.S. activists can only be understood as a paranoid projection or a smokescreen to justify maintaining a failed policy.

From a political analysis perspective, what the report degrades is the very standard of argumentation in foreign affairs, substituting fact-based research with the construction of "narratives of threat," a tactic typical of propaganda.

It employs grandiose rhetoric—"undermining American interests," "capital of subversion"—reminiscent of the discursive machinery that preceded the Iraq War, when certainties about weapons of mass destruction that never existed were presented.

This State Department report must be read, above all, as a performative speech act: it does not seek to describe reality or inform Congress honestly, but rather to legitimize a hostile policy that has been rejected by the international community and to generate a climate of suspicion toward internal dissent.

As Trump Threatens Invasion, Admin Releases Report Vilifying Cuba and the Left

In the report, officials condemn the dissidence of left-wing figures like Hasan Piker and Zohran Mamdani.

By Sharon Zhang, Truthout

July 20, 2026

The State Department has released a report that labels Cuba as the “ideological capital” of left-wing politics in a document seemingly imitating Cold War politics published amid the Trump administration’s fascistic crackdown on the left.

The 99-page report is entitled “Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism.” It argues that, since the rise of Fidel Castro and left-wing revolutionary thought in the Caribbean country in the 1950s and ‘60s, the country’s brand of left-wing politics “now enjoys something approaching ideological hegemony both within and beyond the West.” Though Cuba itself is a “failed state,” the report says, its political project has still spread to the point of threatening “Western civilization itself.”

The ultimate goal for the small island state is “conquering the neighboring United States,” the report asserts. “Since 1959, Cuba has been — and without fundamental, radical reforms, will always be — less a nation-state than an all-encompassing intelligence and subversion operation, focused around its existential revolution against the United States,” the report says.

In reality, the report comes as the U.S. is seemingly preparing for an invasion of or assault on Cuba. For months, President Donald Trump has threatened that Cuba is “next” on the U.S. military’s hitlist. And CBS reported last week that Pentagon officials have been preparing a “range of options” including an air assault of the country — which is already on the brink after the Trump administration’s months-long total oil blockade has caused wave after wave of nationwide blackouts.

Indeed, the report hits on two of the Trump administration’s goals: the vilification of Cuba ahead of potential military action against the country, as well as the creation of a myth of an organized and violent left that is prepared to destroy the U.S., as administration officials kickstarted last week.

The sprawling document names numerous American left-wing groups, some of which have not been active or prominent in decades, as “front groups and fellow travelers” of Cuba.

This includes groups like the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), National Lawyers Guild, Code Pink, and Cuba solidarity groups The Cuban Institute of Friendship with Peoples and the National Network on Cuba. The document also ties racial solidarity movements with Cuba, flimsily insinuating that Cuba is the driving force behind much of the Black Lives Matter movement and pro-immigrant, anti-ICE movements.

The report cites “examples” that are often just symbolic declarations of support for the Cuban people, taking them to improbable logical extremes.

DSA, for instance, isn’t under any control of the Cuban government, the report says. Yet, it is still a major part of the “Cuban influence operation,” the State Department claims, solely because its members espouse left-wing ideals and have expressed solidarity with the population of Cuba amid the U.S.’s sanctions regime on the country.

State Department officials also call out individual Americans who have expressed opposition to the U.S.’s policies on Cuba or otherwise participated in the Cuba solidarity movement, including prominent figures like Hasan Piker, Zohran Mamdani, Chris Smalls, Isra Hirsi, and Amy Goodman.

The report does not discuss the U.S.’s decades of meddling and suppression of Cuba’s government. In that context, the report only brings up left-wing groups’ condemnation of the failed Bay of Pigs operation and the sanctions regime as supposed proof that they are controlled by Cuba — rather than motivated by credible human rights concerns such as those raised by the United Nations.

The document is reminiscent of Cold War-era assessments and propaganda against the Soviet Union and other countries vilified by the U.S. at the time, even quoting Cold War-era reports on the supposed threat of “Communist subversion” — a key difference being that the Soviet Union was actually taking substantial action to back political movements in other countries.

At the time, President Harry S. Truman reoriented U.S. foreign policy toward combating the growing influence of the Soviet Union and China, and spoke of the need for the U.S. to combat such “aggression.” This spiraled into decades of proxy wars ranging across the world, from Cuba to Afghanistan to Korea to Vietnam, as well as the McCarthyist campaign to silence and imprison left-wing dissidents at home.

UK Humanitarian Worker Monitored for Ebola in London Hospital

Fergus Walsh

Medical editor

A humanitarian worker in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been medically evacuated to the UK after a potential healthcare‑related exposure to Ebola.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said the individual, who is a UK resident and has not been named, has no symptoms, and the move is purely precautionary.

The individual remains well but is being assessed and monitored at a London hospital, the statement from UKHSA said.

The hospital has not been named but the Royal Free in north London has a high level isolation unit and is the primary national centre for high consequence infectious diseases.

The incubation period of Ebola ranges from two to 21 days and the humanitarian worker will be required to isolate throughout.

The individual had been working with a humanitarian organisation supporting the Ebola outbreak response.

Ebola is a highly dangerous pathogen. Unlike flu or Covid, it is not airborne and spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids.

Symptoms come on suddenly and start like the flu or malaria, with fever, headache and tiredness. As the disease progresses, vomiting and diarrhoea develop and it can lead to organ failure. Some, but not all, patients develop internal and external bleeding.

Richard Pebody, director of epidemic and emerging infections at UKHSA, said: "The risk to the general public remains low.

"This individual has been transferred out of an abundance of caution, and we're pleased they remain well."

There are currently no confirmed cases of Ebola in the UK, the agency said.

Why does DRC keep battling disease outbreaks?

There were three confirmed Ebola cases in the UK between 2014 and 2015 - all involving healthcare workers returning from west Africa. All recovered and there was no onward transmission.

According to the World Health Organization, as of 19 July the DR Congo government has recorded 2,423 confirmed cases of Ebola, including 967 deaths, since the outbreak was declared in mid-May. The WHO said 469 had recovered.

Uganda has recorded another 20 confirmed cases and two deaths.

The latest outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo species of Ebola, for which there is no vaccine, although several are in development.

It has been described as the third-worst outbreak on record by WHO head Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

WHO Says Ebola Death Toll in DRC and Uganda Gas Surpassed 1,000

Democratic Republic Of Congo

The World Health Organization says the death toll in the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda has surpassed 1,000.

In all, 2,473 cases of the deadly virus, including 999 deaths, have been confirmed in the Congo, while 20 cases, including two deaths, have been registered in neighbouring Uganda.

Kinshasa’s health ministry says that at least 737 patients are currently in isolation and hospitals.

The outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo virus, was declared on 15 May in Ituri Province in the DRC, before spreading to four other regions in the east of the country.

Several cases were then reported in Uganda, linked mostly to Congolese citizens who had crossed the border.

Kampala says it has gone three weeks without registering any new cases.

This rare strain of Ebola, which spreads through close contact and infected bodily fluids, currently has no approved vaccine or specific treatment.

By the time the WHO declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in May, the virus had already been spreading undetected for weeks.

It warned last week that Ebola had over the past month "expanded faster than any previous outbreak".

This includes the 2013-2016 outbreak that is considered the worst on record with over 11,000 deaths out of at least 28,000 cases.

That outbreak took about eight months to reach 1,000 deaths.

The WHO's incident manager for Bundibugyo virus in DRC, Thierno Balde, earlier this week said that despite a ramping up of the response, "the outbreak remains ahead of us”.

But the WHO has reported "encouraging progress", with trials for two potential treatments, a vaccine and a post-exposure prophylaxis underway on the ground.

Nigeria, Germany Agree to Deepen Business, Trade Ties

Europe's economy is under pressure from what it calls unfair Chinese trade practices, while Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine drags into its fifth year

Abuja

Germany's foreign minister wrapped up a two-day visit to Nigeria Wednesday as Berlin moves to deepen business opportunities across Africa amid a more isolationist United States and geo-political pressure from Russia and China.

Johann Wadephul called for "strengthening trade and investment" at a meeting with his counterpart Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu in Abuja, having spent Tuesday in the economic capital, Lagos.

Claudia Roth, a Green party member of parliament accompanying Wadephul, told AFP "in this world I think desperately, we need new partners... against the warlords in politics, against these Trumps and Putins and Xis."

Diplomatic and trade tensions have flared between the United States and Europe as US President Donald Trump has upended global trade policy and threatened the stability of the NATO military alliance.

Europe's economy is under pressure from what it calls unfair Chinese trade practices, while Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine drags into its fifth year.

China and Russia have also carved out economic and security ties, respectively, in Africa.

But Wadephul, on his third trip to Africa this year, said "the potential of our economic partnership is far from exhausted" in Nigeria, "particularly in information technology and the vibrant start-up sector".

Bilateral trade grew by around 10 percent last year, he said.

That comes as President Bola Tinubu has engaged in a raft of reforms, hailed by economists and investors, including liberalising the naira currency exchange rate, overhauling the tax code and removing a costly fuel subsidy.

Wadephul named "critical raw materials, renewable energy and the pharmaceutical industry" as areas for potential growth.

Dwindling foreign aid

The German foreign minister also commended Nigeria -- which has been fighting a jihadist insurgency concentrated in its northeast since 2009 -- for standing on "the front line in the fight against terrorism and violent extremism".

He warned of a "spillover" of fighting from separate insurgencies in the neighbouring Sahel.

Wadephul's promise of continued security and humanitarian cooperation, however, comes as Germany's foreign aid budget has been cut repeatedly.

While the United States has come under scrutiny for dismantling its main aid organ, USAID, there has also been a broader Western retreat from foreign assistance in recent years.

Tinubu's economic reforms, meanwhile, have sparked frustrations domestically after they caused crushing inflation in the short term.

Roth, the Green lawmaker, said that humanitarian aid would remain on the agenda.

Mauritania, where the German delegation stopped Monday, "desperately needs it", she said, citing hundreds of thousands of refugees who have arrived from neighbouring Mali "because the situation in the Sahel is so dangerous".

Germany would also pursue "partnerships on a different level" across Africa, she said.

"We are not coming from the north and educating people, but we are coming and saying... 'we do not know anything better, we have to learn from you'," she told AFP.

"Europe is quite fragile, so we need a strong partnership."

Wadephul's three-country tour ends in South Africa on Thursday.

Burkina Faso's Military Leader Warns Challengers Amid Rumors of a Power Struggle

Burkina Faso

The head of Burkina Faso's military government, Ibrahim Traore, has sought to stamp out speculation of a power struggle within its ranks, warning he intends remaining the country's only leader.

"There can't be two captains on one ship," the authoritarian Traore told community leaders in Ouahigouya in the north of the country on Thursday.

The prolonged absence of two leading figures has fuelled rumours of a tussle within the military government, which came to power in a coup in September 2022.

His second-in-command Oumarou Yabre is one of the most influential figures in Burkina's security apparatus.

A security official said Yabre stopped going to his office at the National Intelligence Agency and the security detail assigned to his home has been cut substantially.

Farouk Azaria Sorgho, junta spokesperson and commander of a powerful Rapid Intervention Battalion, is his third-in-command.

He has become central to cleaning up public administration, denouncing cases of financial misconduct, and meting out harsh punishments.

But since mid-May, Battalion No 4 has been run by Sorgho's deputy and security officials allege the commander has been "abducted" by Traore associates.

Neither of the men have been seen in public since May.

"Everyone who works with me knows how I operate," the 38-year-old captain said.

"If anyone screws up, I'll take you down without a second thought. There are no strongmen around me," he threatened.

"I’ve got a mission and they’re all following it. That’s why we’re here. And if anyone screws up, I’ll take you down without a second thought,” he said.

Meanwhile, security operations have intensified in the capital, Ougadougou, over the past two months.

Local residents say roads that were closed for years have been reopened to reroute traffic away from the presidential palace, where security checkpoints have been set up.

TotalEnergies Announces Scandalous Fossil Fuel Profits as Climate Disasters Intensify

On July 22nd, 350.org activists staged an action at La Défense, the Paris business district, home of TotalEnergies headquarters, denouncing the responsibility of fossil fuel giants in the climate crisis and demanding stronger taxes on their profit - Credit: Rémy El Sibaïe/350.org 

This summer is proving to be one of the most brutal yet. Intense heatwaves are killing thousands of people, flash floods are submerging entire towns, and wildfires are sweeping through regions once considered safe. These are all symptoms of a climate crisis driven by fossil fuel dependence.

Amid this unfolding emergency, TotalEnergies has announced another quarter of record profits. Those profits have been boosted by the instability that drives higher oil and gas prices, while ordinary people continue to pay the price through higher fuel costs, rising energy bills, and the growing impacts of climate-fuelled disasters. 350.org calls for the era of impunity for big polluters to end.

And there is an opportunity to make that happen: the fifth round of negotiations on the UN Convention on International Tax Cooperation opens Monday, August 3rd in New York. This genuinely multilateral forum aims to deliver a global treaty by 2027 to end corporate tax evasion and opacity, and establish fairer taxation rules. Governments could use it to make oil and gas majors pay for their role in the climate crisis, funding lasting protection for affected populations. 

Fanny Petitbon, 350.org Country Manager for France 

"TotalEnergies’ latest results are not ordinary corporate earnings but a receipt for climate chaos. The company shamelessly cashes in on monstrous profits generated during a period of worsening climate breakdown that it helped fuel, alongside economic disruption and geopolitical conflict. Every spike in fossil fuel prices acts as an unofficial tax on people: increasing the cost of transport, electricity and food, while governments spend billions responding to disasters and shielding households from volatile energy markets. Yet TotalEnergies keeps reaping extraordinary rewards from the very instability it helped create. It is time to end this impunity. As governments gather in New York this August to negotiate a UN Tax Convention, they have a historic chance to make polluters pay and fund the protection ordinary people desperately need."

Zaki Mamdoo, StopEACOP Campaign Coordinator

“The wealth celebrated by TotalEnergies's shareholders and executives is paid for through the ruined lives of so many along the EACOP route who have been made to endure land loss, destroyed livelihoods, food insecurity, repression and the deepening social breakdown produced by displacement and dispossession. These obscene profits are clearly not a measure of success, but an account of organised exploitation. Every billion-dollar margin is extracted from the labour of workers, who produce far more than they are paid, and secured at the expense of communities, who are made to carry the entirety of the social and environmental costs of extraction.”

350.org is calling on the French government to introduce stronger and permanent taxes on fossil fuel companies’profits, and to ensure the revenue is directed towards climate adaptation and a fast, fair transition away from fossil fuels. This demand is backed by 75% of French people, according to a survey commissioned by Oxfam France. So far, however, France has been unambitious and obstructive in international negotiations, notably resisting efforts to enshrine the polluter-pays principle in the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation. It's time for France to change course: to stop blocking progress and start championing a treaty that makes polluters pay.

About 350.org

350.org is an international climate movement working to end the age of fossil fuels and build a world of community-led renewable energy for all.

About the StopEACOP Campaign

The StopEACOP Coalition is an alliance of local groups, communities, and African and global organisations. The #StopEACOP Coalition has been calling for a stop to the proposed pipeline and associated oil fields at Tilenga and Kingfisher. 

Media Contact: 

Hala Bounaidja Rachedi, 350.org, hala.rachedi@350.org,  + 33 6 24 03 95 73

Supreme Court Rejects Executive Order Reversing Birthright Citizenship

Since 1868 during Federal Reconstruction the United States Congress ratified the 14th amendment to provide constitutional protections for formerly enslaved Africans

By Abayomi Azikiwe

Editor, Pan-African News Wire

Tuesday July 21, 2026

Political Review

In a 6-3 decision, the United States Supreme Court struck down an executive order issued by President Donald Trump during the early days of his second non-consecutive term.

Trump, who has built his political reputation on racial bias and discrimination against immigrants and nationally oppressed peoples of color, has sought to undermine the gains made as a result of the Civil War, Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Movement of the post-World War II period.

By attempting to strike down an important clause of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, Trump and his “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) tendency are seeking opportunities to strip the citizenship rights of millions living in the country. If they are successful in nullifying the 14th Amendment, the demographic trends leading to the growth of people of color communities would be halted.

These actions by the White House are representative of the racist domestic and foreign policies of the administration. In addition to attacks on immigrants, the civil rights of those born in the US and recognized as “citizens” have been under serious attack. Other executive orders and Supreme Court decisions have already eliminated Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Affirmative Action and the right to research, study and display the actual historical development of the US have been declared unlawful.

The Trump v. Barbara decision upheld the Section One of the 14th Amendment which declares:

“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” (https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-14/)

This amendment was designed to strengthen the Civil Rights Act of 1866 which was a broad law passed by Congress to provide fundamental rights to Africans in the US who were enslaved by the British and later the Americans from 1619 to 1865 when the 13th Amendment was ratified. During and after the Civil War a debate sharpened among the ruling class over what would be the status of African people.

The Dred Scott Decision of 1857 was a vicious response to the formerly enslaved African, Dred Scott and his wife Harriet of Missouri, who sued for their freedom since they had lived for some time in the non-slaveholding territory of Wisconsin. The outcome of the case had implications for the African people as a whole since they were utilizing various forms of resistance to win their freedom from bondage.

A series of rebellions and a burgeoning abolitionist movement threatened the supremacy of the slavocracy. In 1856, reports of slave rebellions in the South created panic among the planters in an election year where the question of slavery was being debated.

According to one source:

“Northern politics influenced the last major insurrection scares of the antebellum South; the growth of the Republican Party was the obvious stimulus. Shortly after the 1856 elections, rumors of a Christmas insurrection spread throughout the South. Tennessee became the center of the scare, but in all slave states except Delaware and Maryland there were reverberations of panic... The clearest evidence about the killing of Blacks in the 1856 panic exists in Texas and especially Tennessee, in the latter case chiefly industrial slaves, who worked in its many small iron furnaces. The origins of the plot were obscurely tied to the Fremont canvass: 'the negroes, hearing so much of Fremont, began to think that if he was elected, they would all be free.’ ... Rumors piled up. A keg of dynamite was found under a church near Louisa furnace, though no thought was given as to how this keg was to aid the plot. Several ‘white minister’ instigators were invented, and one Black suspect, who died halfway through his sentence of 900 lashes, turned out to be, rioters claimed, a white man who had ‘dyed’ himself. In the usual fashion, slaves were rounded up ‘and under pain of severe punishment or death were made to confess,’ and confessions proved ‘identical in every particular,’ of course. Some fifty-six blacks were hanged, at least nine-tenths of them slaves; two or more, in addition to the ‘dyed’ white man, were beaten to death. After the first hangings in Dover, Tennessee, many victims were beheaded, and, hoisting ‘the ghastly gory relics’ on poles, citizens paraded the streets in triumph...'” (https://civilwartalk.com/threads/the-great-slave-insurrection-panic-of-1856.119848/)

It would only take another four years for the Civil War to erupt. The Confederate insurrection devastated large areas of the US. The outcomes of the so-called “War Between the States” remains, some 160 years later as debates continue over the status of the formerly enslaved along with immigrants from geopolitical regions where formerly colonized peoples resided.

A Return to Dred Scott in the 21st Century

The Dred Scott Decision of 1857 has been described by many legal scholars as the lowest point of the legal trajectory of the Supreme Court. This interpretation of the Constitution upheld the rights of slaveholders to deny the fundamental human rights of African people.

In an archival review of the decision notes that:

“On March 6, 1857, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney read the majority opinion of the Court, which stated that enslaved people were not citizens of the United States and, therefore, could not expect any protection from the federal government or the courts. The opinion also stated that Congress had no authority to ban slavery from a federal territory. This decision moved the nation a step closer to the Civil War. The decision of Scott v. Sandford, considered by many legal scholars to be the worst ever rendered by the Supreme Court, was overturned by the 13th and 14th amendments to the Constitution, which abolished slavery and declared all persons born in the United States to be citizens of the United States.” (https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/dred-scott-v-sandford)

African Americans living in the 21st century must realize that the Trump v. Barbara case does not only apply to those children whose parents were born outside the US. It is important to recognize that during the 19th century when the Atlantic Slave Trade was still operational, both legally and illegally, many Africans living in bondage had parents who were born in Africa where they were captured and brought to the US and other areas in the Caribbean, Central and South America.  

Therefore, the striking down of the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause could easily be rolled back to the 1857 Dred Scott Decision. Even today in the 21st century, Africans are disproportionately represented in the lower ranks of the proletariat suffering from extreme labor exploitation, impoverishment, racist violence and incarceration.

Constitutional Amendments and Civil Rights Laws Remain Under Threat

Even after the Civil War and Reconstruction, another series of Supreme Court decisions in effect overturned the important clauses of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendment along with the Civil Rights Acts of 1866 and 1875. The Supreme Court Decisions of 1883 largely eliminated the right to due process and equal protection under the law for African Americans.

In a report published by the Equal Justice Institute (EJI), it says of the 1883 rulings by the Supreme Court:

“The Supreme Court’s decision in the Civil Rights Cases eliminated the only federal law that prohibited racial discrimination by individuals or private businesses and left African Americans who were victims of private discrimination to seek legal recourse in unsympathetic state courts. Racial discrimination in housing, restaurants, hotels, theaters, and employment became increasingly entrenched and persisted for generations. It would be more than 80 years before Congress tried again to outlaw discrimination by passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964.” (https://calendar.eji.org/racial-injustice/oct/15)

Consequently, African Americans and other oppressed peoples cannot be assured under US law that their Civil Rights are guaranteed within the existing system. The MAGA movement has brought to the surface once again the institutional racism which has always characterized US society.

The only guarantee for the oppressed is the continuation of resistance, mobilization and organization designed to win genuine liberation and social emancipation. Although the Trump administration did not prevail in the Trump v. Barbara case, they are attempting to introduce and pass legislation which would achieve the same objectives.

When the key provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act were struck down by the same Supreme Court it was a clear indication of the desire to reinforce the oppressed status of African Americans. The redrawing of Congressional maps to benefit the MAGA rulers must be overturned to provide some semblance of the right to self-determination and equal protection for the African American people. 

Demonstrations Break Out in Bologna After Moroccan Man Dies While Being Held by Police

Europe

Protesters and police clashed in Bologna, Italy on Monday after Moroccan-born entrepreneur Abderrahim Fakir died while being forcibly restrained by police. Widely shared footage of Fakir's death show police holding the 42-year-old face-down on the ground, where he repeatedly calls for help before falling still.

21/07/2026 - 10:5

By FRANCE 24

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Italian police clashed with demonstrators in the northern city ​of Bologna on Monday, ANSA news agency reported, during a protest over the death of a Moroccan man who died while being forcibly restrained by police during an attempted arrest.

Abderrahim Fakir, a Moroccan-born entrepreneur who ran a small removals and cleaning ​business, died ‌on Sunday after police were called to deal with a man ⁠behaving aggressively and damaging a vehicle, Italian media said.

Footage of the incident filmed by a resident and widely shared online prompted ‌hundreds of people to protest. Images posted on social media showed demonstrators holding up slogans such as "Justice and truth for Fakir!" and "State murderers".

According to ANSA, some threw a firecracker near ⁠police buildings in the city. Police reacted by firing tear gas and water cannons.

ANSA also reported that a group of demonstrators sat down in a square holding a photograph ​of Fakir, describing the action as a gesture of nonviolent protest.

"The chants of 'police murderers' and 'the whole world hates you,' shouted during a demonstration ​in Bologna ... are disgraceful," said Tommaso Foti, the European affairs minister in ‌the government of far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

The video showed Fakir lying face down on the ground while two officers restrained him.

Fakir – who reportedly suffered from heart issues and asthma – repeatedly calls out "aiuto, aiuto, basta" ("help, help, that's enough") as the officers sit on him and ambulance workers look on.

After he stops moving, the police bind his ankles together.

Only after a moment or two do they and the ambulance workers check his vital signs, the video shows.

'Killed in cold blood'

The incident drew varied responses from across the political spectrum, with opposition politicians demanding accountability and the governing coalition ​defending the officers involved.

Prosecutors have opened an investigation into the incident.

Interior Minister Matteo ​Piantedosi said he had "full confidence" the inquiry would establish the ​facts and clarify what happened.

Bologna police said they would give bodycam footage from the officers who intervened to the investigators.

According to media ​reports, officers called emergency services after arriving in the northeastern neighbourhood of Pilastro shortly after noon, when temperatures exceeded 35°C.

Police tried to calm Fakir before using pepper spray and holding him down while trying to handcuff him after he reacted aggressively, according to media ⁠reports.

"They killed my brother in cold blood, I want justice," Fakir's sister, Khadija, told reporters as hundreds of people in ⁠Pilastro took to ​the streets on Sunday, with some demonstrators chanting slogans against the police.

Lawyer Barbara Spinelli told the ANSA news agency that she had met Fakir last year, when he applied to renew his permit to stay.

He was "a very kind, well educated, respectful person" who was in Italy legally, but who worried about being expelled.

"I told him: 'We are in Italy, a democratic country. Here the police respect the rules'," she said.

"I don't know how I will ever again manage to tell someone they don't need to be afraid", she added.

(FRANCE 24 with Reuters and AFP)

Death of North African Man in Italian Police Custody Sparks Protests, Violence

The death of Abderrahim Fakir in Italy drew parallels to the death of George Floyd.

July 21, 2026 at 6:52 p.m. EDT

Summary

Protesters gather on tram tracks in Bologna, Italy, on July 20.

By Anthony Faiola

Italian authorities scrambled to respond to violent clashes in the northern city of Bologna following the death of a Moroccan-born man in police custody, an incident that drew widespread parallels to the death of George Floyd and emerged as a rallying cry for Italy’s far-left.

Bologna police on Tuesday said 64 officers were injured and six vehicles were damaged after two days of protests, with demonstrators also vandalizing shop windows and setting dumpsters on fire.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni pledged a full investigation into the death Sunday of Abderrahim Fakir, a 42-year-old immigrant business owner whose final moments, while he was pinned to the ground by police, sparked outrage as footage circulated on Italian social media.

“What happened in Bologna is unacceptable ... it is imperative that any potential responsibilities are thoroughly investigated with the utmost rigor,” she said in a post to X. “The truth must be pursued to the very end, without prejudice and without leniency for anyone.”

Meloni strongly condemned the violence in Bologna and insisted the entire police force should not be condemned.

“[N]othing can justify violence against Law Enforcement,” she said. “Those who chose to use this incident as a pretext to set the city ablaze, assault officers, and sow violence — also endangering the safety of innocent bystanders completely unrelated to the unrest — were not seeking the truth: they were seeking confrontation.”

The protests erupted after police said they responded to a call of a man in a “violent rage” in the Pilastro neighborhood of the city who was allegedly damaging a vehicle.

Footage shared by Italian media outlets shows two officers holding Fakir down as he screams for help in Italian, and while a third man holds his feet as Fakir is bound.

His screams end as he appears to fall into unconsciousness, and medical responders seem in no rush to aid him.

Bologna is a traditional stronghold of the Italian left. Following Fakir’s death, the city’s center-left mayor, Matteo Lepore, called for demonstrations in pursuit of “truth.” On Tuesday, he described two responses — saying there were thousands of people who turned out to peacefully demand justice, while a smaller breakaway group had sowed violence.

Lepore condemned the troublemakers in an open letter to the city, saying they had acted “outside the rule of law.”

Social media campaigns demanding justice for Fakir began online, as demonstrators in Bologna splashed the pavement with red paint and covered them with papers reading, “Don’t clean this blood, say his name,” a reference to slogans used by groups in the United States defending African Americans from police violence.

“No one helps him, no one unties him,” Fabio Anselmo, the Fakir family lawyer, told local journalists, according to Corriere della Sera. “Explain to me the reason why he was tied, hands and feet.”

Bologna prosecutors said they have opened an investigation into the actions of the police and first responders in the death of Fakir, who emigrated to Italy as a child and ran a cleaning service.

The incident comes several months after violent clashes between Italian police and far-left protesters in Turin resulted in 30 arrests and more than 100 injuries to police officers, including one officer pummeled with sticks and a hammer. That incident triggered Meloni’s government to force through a new security bill that granted authorities enhanced powers to detain suspected troublemakers ahead of street protests.

Fakir’s death, however, was at risk of triggering a new political crisis for Meloni.

Elly Schlein, head of the opposition Democratic Party, laid blame Tuesday on the Italian state, and called for justice to run its course.

“When a man dies during a detention operation, the state has failed and the state itself must shed light,” she told the Italian outlet La7. “Politics must not come with convictions or ex-officio acquittals. It will be the judiciary that will determine whether there will be responsibilities and of whom.”

Fakir’s family has called for justice but distanced themselves from the violence in Bologna.

“We dissociate ourselves from the clashes and riots that took place in the square in bologna,” Yossra Fakir, the distraught niece of Abderrahim Fakir, told reporters. “We absolutely disagree. Seeing the city center mistreated like this hurts us deeply and Bologna doesn’t deserve it.”

Meloni Orders Full Probe After Arrest Death Sparks Unrest

Police were forced to disperse crowds during protests following the death of a Moroccan-born man on Sunday in Bologna, northern Italy.

World News

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has called for a full investigation into the death of a man during an arrest in Bologna, while strongly condemning violent clashes that left dozens of police officers injured.

Moroccan-born Abderrahim Fakir died on Sunday after police responded to reports of a man behaving aggressively and damaging a vehicle in the city's Pilastro district.

A widely shared video shows Fakir pinned face down by officers, repeatedly saying he could not breathe before becoming motionless. Prosecutors have launched an investigation, with police confirming that body-camera footage will be handed over to investigators.

The incident sparked protests in central Bologna, where demonstrations turned violent. Police say 56 officers were injured after protesters threw bottles, chairs and firecrackers, prompting officers to respond with tear gas and water cannon.

Meloni said the truth must be established "without prejudice and without leniency," but also accused those behind the violence of exploiting the tragedy to provoke confrontation.

Africa Overtakes Asia as World's Hunger Worse Geopolitical Region, UN Report Finds

By AP

Conflicts and disruptions to global energy markets could push millions more people into hunger by driving up fuel, fertiliser and food costs, the head of the Rome-based International Fund for Agricultural Development warned, as a new UN report showed that global progress against hunger remains fragile.

The UN food security report, released Tuesday, found that global hunger has eased modestly in recent years, but projected that more than 500 million people could still face chronic hunger by 2030.

Africa is expected to bear the largest share of that burden.

In an interview with The Associated Press on July 10, IFAD President Alvaro Lario said that geopolitical tensions and potential disruptions to shipping and energy supplies — including uncertainty surrounding the Strait of Hormuz during the Iran war — could leave an additional 9 to 18 million people facing hunger if the shocks persist.

Conflict remains one of the biggest obstacles to reducing hunger worldwide, Lario said.

Wars and geopolitical tensions can disrupt shipping, energy supplies and agricultural inputs, increasing costs across food systems already strained by inflation.

Lario stressed that hunger and conflict often reinforce one another, creating a cycle that is difficult to break without greater stability.

Higher energy prices are already affecting fertilisers and agricultural production, he said.

The impact is especially significant for small-scale farmers, many of whom rely on diesel fuel to pump water, harvest crops and transport goods to market.

Affordability

Rising fuel costs increase production expenses and can feed directly into higher food prices.

The new report identifies affordability as one of the world’s biggest food security challenges.

While food production continues to grow, roughly one-third of the global population still can't afford a healthy diet.

In low-income countries, that figure rises to about 77 percent, according to Lario.

Climate change is adding further pressure to food systems and rural livelihoods.

Lario noted that floods, prolonged droughts and extreme heat are increasingly disrupting agriculture around the world and have become a common reality for many communities.

Governments should focus on resilience and adaptation before disasters strike, rather than relying solely on emergency responses afterward, he said.

Africa's population growth

The report highlights Africa as the world’s most pressing food-security challenge.

For the first time, the continent has overtaken Asia as the region with the largest number of hungry people, and nearly 60 percent of the world’s chronically undernourished people could live there by 2030.

Lario attributed the shift partly to rapid population growth and slower economic gains than in parts of Asia, and he called for greater investment in agriculture, infrastructure and food systems.

African countries currently import nearly $100 billion worth of food each year, he said, underscoring the need for stronger local production, storage, distribution and regional trade networks.

Lario said conflicts, energy-market disruptions and climate extremes threaten to derail progress unless governments invest in more resilient food systems.

ECOWAS Urges Guinea-Bissau's Military Leaders to Release Jailed Opposition Figures

Domingos Simoes Pereira, then prime minister of Guinea-Bissau, detained by regime

Guinea-Bissau

The West African bloc ECOWAS has urged Guinea-Bissau's military-led government to unconditionally release all detained political figures.

In a statement at the end of a summit of heads of state in Sierra Leone, it said this would “bolster the credibility” of the country’s transition process.

The release would include freeing opposition leader and former prime minister, Domingos Simões Pereira, who was jailed again earlier this month.

He has been accused of economic crimes ​and involvement ​in an ⁠alleged coup attempt in October 2025, which he denies.

Pereira was one of several politicians jailed by the military after it seized power in November last year, replacing President Umaro Sissoco Embalo.

That coup came one day before the electoral commission was due to announce the results of presidential and legislative elections.

Guinea-Bissau’s military leaders adopted a year-long transitional charter in December that requires presidential and legislative elections to be held at the end of 12 months.

The country has experienced repeated instability since gaining independence from Portugal in 1974, with only one president ever completing a full term in office.

Uganda Launches Emergency Food Aid for Drought-hit Karamoja

In this photo taken Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017, a Karamojong man and children keep watch over their cattle as they rest after grazing.

Uganda

Uganda has launched an emergency food relief operation for the drought-stricken Karamoja region, where prolonged dry conditions have triggered widespread crop failures and worsening hunger.

The government says more than 313,000 households across nine districts will receive maize flour and beans as part of a 9.4 million-kilogram relief package.

Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja said the assistance is aimed at helping communities whose food supplies have been devastated by the extended dry spell, while urging officials to ensure aid reaches those most in need without delay.

Earlier this month, authorities reported that 16 people had died from severe food shortages. The government says it is also investing in long-term measures to help communities better withstand future droughts.

Africa CDC Urges U.S. to Lift Uganda Ebola Travel Restrictions

Uganda

Africa's top public health agency is urging the United States to lift travel restrictions on Uganda, arguing the country has brought its Ebola outbreak under control.

Speaking at the African Union health summit in Ghana, Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya said Uganda has gone three weeks without a new Ebola case and discharged its last patient earlier this month. He warned that countries should not be penalized for being transparent about disease outbreaks.

The US recently tightened travel restrictions on Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan as the outbreak spread across the region.

While opposing travel bans, Kaseya warned the epidemic in the DRC is worsening rapidly, with more than 2,300 confirmed cases and over 900 deaths since May.

Africa CDC says nearly 1.4 billion dollars is needed to contain the outbreak, warning that without urgent international funding and stronger disease surveillance, the crisis could become the worst Ebola outbreak on record.

Abayomi Azikiwe, PANW Editor, Interviewed on 1+1 with Youri Smouter, on the History and Contemporary Affairs of the Union of Comoros

Watch this interview with Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire, with Youri Smouter of 1+1 discussing the history and contemporary affairs of the Union of Comoros. 

To view the entire episode of 1+1 just click on the following link: 1+1 E398 Youri speaks to Abayomi Azikiwe of Pan-African Newswire on Comoros Islands & the far-right

The archipelago of islands developed over centuries with the migration of Africans, Asians and Pacific Islanders. Portugal and France were involved in the advent of enslavement and colonization. 

Since the post-independence period after 1975, there has been instability and struggle against continuing French neo-colonial interventions. 

Union of Comoros has been limited in its sovereignty due to the continuing French occupation of Mayotte irrespective of the wishes of Comorans, the African Union and the United Nations. 

In addition, the program reviews the role of right-wing media corporations and platforms and their role in shaping the outlooks of people in the western capitalist and imperialist states.

WSJ: Iranian Missile Struck US Troop Housing at Jordan Base

By Al Mayadeen English

Source: WSJ

A Wall Street Journal report says the Iranian missile attack on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan struck US troop housing

A Wall Street Journal report has revealed that the Iranian ballistic missile attack on Muwaffaq Salti Airbase in Jordan that killed two US troops struck prefabricated housing units where American troops lived and slept, highlighting the potency of Iranian missiles facing US air defenses.

Citing US officials familiar with the matter, the report said the strike was the third Iranian missile attack on the base within a 24-hour period. Officials also said human remains believed to belong to a third individual had been recovered and were undergoing identification.

Three missile strikes hit base in Jordan

According to the report, the first missile attack damaged the base's gym after troops had been alerted by incoming missile sirens and attempted to reach protective bunkers. Several personnel were reportedly injured while moving to the shelter.

Hours later, a second Iranian missile reportedly struck what was described as an empty aircraft hangar after another warning siren sounded.

The third attack hit containerized housing units, known as CHUs, where troops had been sleeping. Although warning sirens were activated, US officials said not all personnel were able to reach bunkers before impact.

Report highlights gaps in US air defenses

The Wall Street Journal said the three successful missile strikes within one day underscored the difficulty of defending US military installations against Iran's ballistic missile arsenal.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the incident by saying that "a missile got through," while emphasizing that most Iranian missiles had been intercepted.

The report noted that Iran has increasingly deployed high-speed, maneuverable ballistic missiles capable of complicating interception efforts, adding to the pressure on US air defense networks deployed across West Asia.

Casualties mount as aggression intensifies

The latest details emerge as the Pentagon confirmed that nearly 100 US service members have sustained injuries in Iranian strikes across the region since July 7.

Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell claimed that approximately 96% of the injured personnel have already returned to duty, with most suffering minor concussions.

The Jordan attack marked one of the deadliest recent incidents involving US forces since hostilities sharply escalated following the collapse of the Iran-US ceasefire framework.

Iran has expanded missile and drone attacks against US military positions in Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, and elsewhere, while Washington has continued nightly aggression against Iran.

Following the deaths of the US troops, US President Donald Trump vowed retaliation, stating that every American soldier killed by Iran would be met with a response "many times over."

Meanwhile, Iran's Leader Sayyed Mojtaba Khamenei warned that continued US military aggression would bring "unforgettable lessons" for Washington.

IRGC Hits US Radars, Air Defense Systems in Eyeing Expanded Attacks

By Al Mayadeen English

IRGC says Iran targeted US radar, Patriot air defense systems, and MQ-9 drone facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait during the 24th wave of Operation Nasr-2.

Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) said its Aerospace Force targeted and destroyed multiple US radar and air defense systems across Bahrain and Kuwait during the 24th wave of Operation Nasr-2.

In a series of statements, the IRGC said the operations were carried out in response to US attacks on Iran and Washington’s efforts to disrupt security in the Strait of Hormuz.

The IRGC stated that the strikes were aimed at removing obstacles to future missile and drone operations by degrading US surveillance and defensive capabilities across the region.

IRGC strikes US systems in Bahrain

The IRGC said a US radar system and an air defense system in al-Muharraq, Bahrain, were completely destroyed and removed from operational service.

It also said a US Patriot air defense system deployed in al-Riffa, Bahrain, was targeted in a simultaneous missile and drone attack and destroyed.

Kuwait bases targeted in missile, drone attacks

In a separate statement, the IRGC said its forces targeted a long-range radar site, a communications center, satellite receiving systems, and a US missile defense radar deployed in Kuwait.

The IRGC said the systems were struck by missile and drone attacks and destroyed as part of efforts to clear the way for broader air and missile operations.

The force also reported that an MQ-9 drone hangar at Ali al-Salem Airbase was targeted, claiming that several drones were destroyed or heavily damaged.

IRGC reports further damage to US air defense network

The IRGC later announced additional strikes on US systems at Ahmed al-Jaber Airbase in Kuwait.

According to the statement, the targets included an early-warning radar, a missile defense radar system, an AN/FPS-117 radar, a Patriot air defense system, and a satellite communications system linked to US air defenses.

The IRGC said the reported attacks represented a continuation of what it described as a “dark night” for US radar and air defense systems in the region.