Forum Vows to Advocate Ethiopia’s Strategic Interests in Nile, Red Sea

Addis Ababa, November 12, 2026 (ENA)—  The newly established Nile and Red Sea Strategic Forum pledged to strengthen research, policy advocacy, and public engagement to advance Ethiopia’s strategic interests in the two vital waterways.

Briefing journalists today, the forum’s Chief Executive Officer, Solomon Tefera, said the institution was established as a legally recognized body to strengthen Ethiopia’s strategic interests in the Nile and Red Sea.

Solomon said the forum aims to mobilize civil society, scholars, researchers, and the public to safeguard Ethiopia’s strategic interests in the two waters, which are vital to its economic development, regional stability, and geopolitical standing.

He said protecting national interests requires coordinated efforts among the government, civil society, and the public, noting that civil society engagement in research, advocacy, and awareness creation remains insufficient.

Solomon said Ethiopia’s interests in the two waterways extend beyond water resources and maritime access.

He also explained that  the two waters encompass economic development, political stability, regional peace, geopolitical interests, and Ethiopia’s international standing.

To address existing gaps, the forum plans to conduct academic and policy research, organize conferences and policy dialogues, and promote diplomatic and public advocacy on Nile and Red Sea issues.

Solomon said the forum has outlined 12 objectives, focusing on research and diplomatic advocacy to safeguard Ethiopia’s interests in the Nile and Red Sea.

The CEO further elaborated that the forum would promote the country’s access to a sea outlet, strengthen regional cooperation, expand public awareness, and support policy dialogue and strategic partnerships.

 It also seeks to strengthen research and advocacy on Ethiopia’s interests in the Abay (Blue Nile), including its benefits to the country and the importance of regional cooperation in utilizing shared water resources.

Regarding maritime access, the forum aims to promote research and policy advocacy to help the international community understand the strategic significance of Ethiopia’s access to a sea outlet and its implications for the country and the wider region.

Solomon said the forum would bring together scholars, intellectuals, experts, and other stakeholders to develop research-based perspectives integrating the historical, legal, geopolitical, diplomatic, and economic dimensions of Ethiopia’s interests.

He added that the institution intends to support diplomatic engagement and strategic partnerships with other countries through international cooperation and peaceful approaches to advance Ethiopia’s interests and strengthen regional relations.

Ivorian Former Prime Minister Recognizes Ethiopia’s Legitimate Sea Access Aspirations

Addis Ababa, November 12, 2026 (ENA)— Former Prime Minister of Côte d’Ivoire and President of the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), Pascal Affi N’Guessan, recognized Ethiopia’s quest for sovereign sea access as a legitimate national aspiration.

Speaking to ENA in Addis Ababa, Affi N’Guessan said Ethiopia’s ambitions deserved recognition, expressing hope that outstanding issues could be addressed through solutions acceptable to all parties.

His remarks come at a time when Ethiopia is actively pursuing permanent access to the Red Sea, citing its geographical, historical and economic circumstances.

The East African nation has repeatedly underscored that its quest for sea access is peaceful, emphasizing that the current status of being geographically landlocked should not remain an enduring constraint on its national development.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has particularly described Ethiopia’s pursuit of Red Sea access as an overdue national aspiration.

“A population of over 130 million people cannot remain landlocked. A generation of today will not bequeath a geographically imprisoned nation to posterity,” he stressed.

The country’s geographical proximity to the Red Sea, together with its historical links to the region’s ports, has remained central to its push for securing a sovereign sea outlet.

Ethiopia historically administered the ports of Massawa and Assab and maintained naval capabilities before Eritrea's independence.

Pascal Affi N’Guessan, who served as Côte d’Ivoire’s prime minister from 2000 to 2003, underscored that Ethiopia’s ambition to secure access to a seaport is legitimate.

“I believe that the ambition of Ethiopia is legitimate, and we hope that these questions will find solutions acceptable to all parties, through good compromises that allow everyone to recognize that this is the path that enables the entire region to move forward,” he said.

He emphasized that meaningful compromises and a spirit of cooperation were essential to ensuring that differing interests do not become obstacles to regional progress.

His message also highlights the broader significance of African-led solutions, mutual respect and cooperation in building lasting stability and advancing collective prosperity across the continent.

Affi N’Guessan further said Ethiopia’s quest for sea access should be approached with an understanding of its broader geopolitical implications and the shared future of countries in the Horn of Africa.

"Well, these are geopolitical questions very important, which necessitate capacities of dialogue, capacities of anticipation," he said.

He noted that territorial, identity and geopolitical questions require the parties concerned to look beyond immediate interests and consider the future.

"There are sometimes questions of identity, territorial, geopolitical order, that cannot regulate themselves unless the actors facing each other have a higher appreciation of the future," he stated.

Emphasizing the importance of African unity and shared development, he expressed hope that Ethiopia's ambition would be addressed through an understanding acceptable to all parties.

"Africa can only develop in unity, and unity must also be unity in ideas, in the sharing of things. And so I believe that the ambition of Ethiopia is legitimate, and we hope that these questions will find solutions that are solutions acceptable for all parties, that are the result of good compromises allowing everyone to realize that it is this voice that allows the whole region to advance," he said.

For Ethiopian Mothers Sheltering in Kenya, Safety Brings a Struggle to Feed Their Children

By DESMOND TIRO

4:05 AM EST, November 12, 2026

MOYALE, Kenya (AP) — Ethiopian mothers who fled fighting into Kenya have found safety but are struggling to feed their children, relying on communal meals and sleeping on floors as more families cross the border seeking help.

The families are fleeing fighting between Somali and Oromo communities in southern Ethiopia. The violence stems from a longstanding territorial dispute between Ethiopia’s Oromia and Somali regional administrations and has driven tens of thousands of people across the border into Kenya.

“We came here on foot late in the night, running for our lives, and arrived with very little,” said Shukria Dalacha, 26, whose daughter, Sijra Bonaiyo, was five days old when they crossed the border. “We do not have the means to sustain our families.”

For Dalacha, reaching safety has meant sleeping on the floor and relying on rice and beans provided to families awaiting registration. She said she was struggling to produce enough breast milk and worried about feeding her newborn.

The border violence adds to Ethiopia’s wider instability, including renewed fighting in Tigray and an insurgency in Amhara. Seven opposition groups formed an alliance in September seeking to remove Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government.

The 2020-2022 war in northern Tigray caused about 500,000 civilian deaths from violence, famine and the collapse of health services, according to researchers at Ghent University in Belgium.

Conflict has also left communities less able to withstand drought. A September assessment by regional and federal disaster authorities and humanitarian partners estimated that 3.9 million people in Tigray would need emergency food assistance through December. It said displacement, restricted access to farmland and disrupted livelihoods were compounding the impact of poor rains.

A room to share, little to spare

Families continued arriving during a visit to Moyale by The Associated Press. Hundreds crowded registration areas at reception points, waiting to be counted and gain access to household rations and basic supplies. In one Kenyan host’s home, 30 displaced people shared a single room for sleeping.

Kerko Mohammed, 70, said she fled with her family after gunfire struck the walls of their home during fighting between Somali and Oromo communities in Ethiopia.

“We had no choice but to escape, and in the process, we suddenly became homeless,” she said.

A Kenyan host had provided food and water, Mohammed said, but the household had limited money.

The arrivals have added pressure in Kenya’s Marsabit County, where local leaders had already warned that food and water shortages could leave communities struggling to accommodate those fleeing Ethiopia.

At the Al-Huda temporary camp, aid workers registered arrivals and distributed basic supplies. Families of six ate together from a single round aluminum tray. Others lay on the floor.

More arrivals, limited aid

UNHCR and local authorities say registration helps identify displaced families and establish their needs. Registered families receive household food rations and basic supplies. Those awaiting registration, as well as families staying with Kenyan hosts, can receive communal meals at protection sites.

Henok Ochalla, a senior emergency coordinator with the U.N. refugee agency, said aid workers were providing meals at reception points and distributing blankets, sleeping mats, drinking water and mosquito nets. Pregnant and breastfeeding women and children under 5 particularly needed medical care and nutrition support.

UNHCR had profiled about 14,000 people by Nov. 6 to establish their needs, he said. That was not a total count of arrivals. In late October, the agency cited local authorities’ estimate that up to 50,000 people had crossed into Kenya. Registration and verification were continuing.

The agency said it had appealed for $8.9 million to assist those fleeing into Kenya but did not say how much it had received.

“With the limited capacity in terms of financial resources that we have, we will not be able to respond to a larger population,” Ochalla said.

Baboons Made Themselves at Home in This Town and a Battle Between Their Defenders and Haters Ensued

By NEIL SHAW and GERALD IMRAY

9:04 PM EST, November 11, 2026

SIMON’S TOWN, South Africa (AP) — The divisions over baboons run deep in Simon’s Town, where their defenders and haters have clashed on social media and sometimes in real life for years.

Sleepy Simon’s Town in South Africa and its population of around 8,000 are riled up about whether to share their coastal town with two troops of chacma baboons that have invaded from the lower slopes behind Cape Town’s famous Table Mountain, which many of the city’s suburbs push up against. Roughly 60 baboons have moved in on a semi-permanent basis — in town by day, and back to the hills to sleep at night.

The situation in Simon’s Town has become untenable, said Gregg Oelofse, a city environmental official and a member of Cape Town’s baboon unit.

And so the city has settled on a solution after years of fierce debate. The two Simon’s Town troops will be moved to enclosures between around 2 and 3.5 hectares (5 and 8.6 acres) in size, where they will be contained by electric fences.

The males will be neutered, ensuring the troops die out in 20 to 30 years because they can’t breed.

“Baboons and people don’t do well when they’re forced to live together,” Oelofse said. “They do well when they live adjacent to each other.” He said moving the baboons to the “semiwild” enclosures was the best of limited options. The other would be to cull them.

Baboons were trouble for years, but the enclosures deepen the divide

While some Simon’s Town residents seek peaceful baboon-human coexistence on the streets, and welcome them, the reality is that baboons are not good neighbors, and others want them out.

The smart but troublesome animals climb buildings, smash windows, break into homes to steal food and fight with dogs. They rummage through trash cans, flinging trash about.

Simon’s Town deploys “baboon monitors” to manage its primate problems. They sometimes shoot baboons with propellants from paintball guns or use “bear bangers” — non-lethal cartridges that make a gunshot-like noise — to scare them away.

The tactics anger baboon defenders, though the city says it prevents a more lethal response by frustrated residents with pellet guns.

The recent decision has deepened the baboon divide, and baboon-supporting residents and animal activists have protested at the site of the enclosures, some holding homemade effigies of baboons in jail cells. They have promised to peacefully stop the relocation.

“I’m totally against them being caged, vasectomized and confined for the rest of their lives,” said resident Shirley Windell. “I believe that they were here first and yes, you know, we have a place here as well. However, coexistence is required.”

She blamed the city for not enforcing better food waste management, which draws the baboons. Activists worry the baboons will hurt or kill themselves trying to escape from the enclosures.

Urban baboon problems stretch across Cape Town

The battle over baboons goes well beyond Simon’s Town. Many other suburbs on the peninsula south of Cape Town have similar conflicts. The city says there are around a dozen troops and nearly 500 baboons impinging on urban areas. The atmosphere is tense.

In one suburb, residents used sticks and pepper spray to chase off baboons, sparking a clash with animal activists. In another, a woman won a protection order against a baboon activist over false accusations that she killed a baboon. An especially troublesome baboon identified as a ringleader in home raids was removed from one area, causing a public outcry.

Human-wildlife conflict is common in Africa, but usually in a rural setting where farmers fight off animals that destroy their crops or kill their livestock. Cape Town is one of the last major cities in the world with free-ranging baboons, Oelofse said.

A small town grapples with the debate

In Simon’s Town, Oelofse said residents on opposite sides of the debate have vandalized each other’s cars with battery acid. Resident Peter Willis had to organize mediation sessions for the “warring parties” in an attempt to stop the town from fracturing in its battle over baboons after the social media debate got out of control.

The city has banned baboon walking tours run by a wildlife advocacy group and discourages the filming of baboons to defuse public tensions. Feeding baboons in Cape Town is strictly prohibited.

But Oelofse insisted there’s no conservation value in keeping them in Simon’s Town. They live on human junk food, get hit by vehicles, mauled by dogs and die by consuming rat poison, and effectively they’re no longer wild, he said.

“They’ll come sit on your table if you’re eating outdoors and that’s not normal behavior for a baboon,” Oelofse said, adding they take tiles off roofs to break into houses through the ceiling, or smash windows and force open doors.

“These are all learned housebreaking techniques,” he said. “We have a situation where we see no value for baboons, no value for people.”

The well-being of humans and animals collides

Willis has been on the sharp end of baboon break-ins at his home. Once, baboons got in while he and his wife were away and broke jars, left paw prints all over the walls and ceilings, tore down the curtains and “ran amok,” he said.

Another time he came face-to-face with a large male baboon sitting on his kitchen counter. The baboon opened the fridge, Willis threw a tin at it and it ran out, snatching a bag of biscuits on the way.

Willis agrees with the plan for the Simon’s Town troops after 15 years of having to be on guard. Baboons in urban areas simply don’t work, he said. “I think the baboons are going to have a perfectly good end to life.”

But primatologist David Gaynor, who lives in the nearby suburb of Scarborough, has urged the city to employ another solution: a fence that stops baboons entering Simon’s Town but doesn’t completely enclose them. The city plans fencing like that in other suburbs but says it won’t work for Simon’s Town.

Gaynor said Table Mountain is a national park and while it’s unique in that it spills over into parts of a city, it’s a conservation area first and saving baboons and biodiversity should be the priority.

“They’ve been here for 2 million years interacting with the environment,” Gaynor said. “Surely we can’t be so arrogant.”

___

Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa.

Caine Prize Clears Zimbabwean Author of AI Writing Allegations and Adds New Rules

A customer browses for books at a bookstore in Harare, Zimbabwe, Oct. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Aaron Ufumeli, File)

By Farai Mutsaka

4:07 AM EST, November 12, 2026

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — The Caine Prize for African Writing has cleared Zimbabwean author Simbarashe Kundizeza of using artificial intelligence to write this year’s award-winning story, but also announced new measures to guard against the use of generative AI in submissions.

Kundizeza said Thursday he felt “relieved” that the allegations raised in an article by The Atlantic magazine had been dismissed.

“It was not necessary in the first place, I am happy to put all this behind me and continue with my writing journey,” he said.

The allegations had sparked a wider debate on social media, with some questioning whether Black authors are being unfairly targeted by AI-related accusations.

The Caine Prize for African Writing said Wednesday it considered “the matter closed” after an internal review that included “rigorous” interviews with the author and metadata analysis of drafts.

“We feel the evidence is clear and have made the decision that Simbarashe’s award stands,” Ellah Wakatama, chair of the Caine Prize, said. “We look forward to awarding as well as celebrating with Simbarashe in Zimbabwe before the end of the year.”

Kundizeza’s “The Blue Fighter” won this year’s $10,000 Caine Prize for African Writing in October. But a report in The Atlantic magazine subsequently said that AI detection tool Pangram had indicated the entire story was AI-generated, with the exception of an excerpt from a poem by another author.

Kundizeza denied the allegations, insisting that the story, centered on family relationships and economic hardship, was entirely his own work that reflected his family’s life during Zimbabwe’s years of economic turmoil.

He said “aspects of the story, including characters and the setting” were drawn from events in his own life, describing it as “a deeply personal story about economic collapse and familial relationships.”

Alongside its decision to uphold the award, the Caine Prize announced new measures it said would strengthen safeguards against use of generative AI. They include AI declarations from publishers submitting stories and from all shortlisted writers, along with an “AI use policy for guidance.”

Brooklyn Building Collapse Killed 2 Children and 6 Adults, Mayor Says

by ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE, JENNIFER PELTZ and KATHY McCORMACK 

Associated Press

November 12, 2026

A view of the site where a building collapsed Nov. 11 in Brooklyn. Credit: Yuki Iwamura/AP

NEW YORK (AP) — Crews operating heavy equipment hoisted chunks of debris Thursday in the search for more victims in the rubble of a collapsed Brooklyn apartment building that killed at least eight people, including two children.

The three-story building gave way while construction workers were digging Wednesday afternoon at an adjacent lot, causing New York City’s mayor to order inspections at about 100 building sites involving companies related to the project.

“If there is anyone, or any entity, operating in this city that bears responsibility for what happened, we will hold them fully accountable,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said during a news conference.

Investigators have not determined what caused the collapse that injured 18 others, including four firefighters, Mamdani said.

One witness said he watched bricks fall minutes before the disaster while a woman in a neighboring building said she and fellow residents blamed vibrations from the construction for cracks that appeared in their apartment walls.

Emergency workers used power saws and pickaxes to get through the debris, pulling four victims out of the rubble in the early hours of Thursday. Hours later, excavators removed larger piles of the wreckage so searchers could get deeper into the construction pit, said New York Fire Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore.

“We always assume there are more people there until we can access the ground,” Bonsignore said. “So until we remove some of the bigger debris and are able to search beneath them, this will remain a rescue operation”

Victims were from multiple countries

Among those killed and injured were people from Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador and Trinidad, Mamdani said. Two of the dead were construction workers, he said.

He described how some workers who survived joined firefighters in digging out survivors, thanking “those who ran toward danger when this building collapsed, and in the hours afterward.”

Witnesses describe the immediate aftermath and destruction

James Williams, who works at a deli across the street, said he heard loud banging at the site all day Wednesday and looked outside to see bricks falling. “Two minutes later, the building collapsed,” he said.

As the building crumbled and exposed the neighboring building, Williams spotted a woman on a staircase. “There wasn’t anything I could do,” he said, his voice cracking.

Customers and stylists at a nearby hair salon jumped up and ran onto the sidewalk as the building fell.

“We heard the boom and we all rushed outside and saw smoke and dust everywhere,” said hairstylist Brigitte Anama.

She saw emergency workers pulling people from the rubble, including what appeared to be a child. “People were saying, ‘Pray for the baby, pray for the baby,’” Anama said.

Dervie Mapp, who lives along the construction site, said she and others complained for months about the project. Her landlord brought engineers into the building, but residents never received an inspection report, she said.

Rescuers with dogs searched through the night

This was the second high-profile structural problem with a building in New York in the past five months. In July, several buildings in Manhattan were evacuated after support columns buckled inside a skyscraper that was formerly the headquarters of Pfizer.

First responders in Brooklyn worked to clear through a massive heap that included mattresses, a broken sink and a refrigerator tossed on its side. Among the belongings scattered in the rubble were vinyl records, clothes and shoes.

Rescue dogs sniffed piles of twisted wood and brick dotted with brightly colored clothing.

Firefighters pulled a pregnant woman from the rubble Wednesday, hoisted her up on a stretcher and rushed her to a waiting ambulance. Others were rescued as the night wore on.

The fire commissioner said the search would not end despite heavy rain Thursday afternoon.

Building records show there were four apartments on the upper two floors and a commercial unit on the ground floor of the collapsed building.

A construction worker from Ecuador was among those killed

The Consulate of Ecuador in New York said José Luis Caguana Cosquillo from Ecuador was among those found dead.

His brother told WNBC-TV that he died while working at the construction site. He was an immigrant from Ecuador who had been in the U.S. for about six years and had a pregnant wife and a young child, Carlos Caguana said.

“He was the sole provider for the family. Now that he’s gone, she is going through an immense amount of pain,” Caguana said.

The surrounding blocks along Flatbush Avenue, a busy thoroughfare in Brooklyn, are tightly packed with mostly older brick buildings and a few newly built apartment complexes. A mix of Caribbean and Mexican restaurants reflects the diversity of the neighborhood.

Inspectors reported violations at the construction site this year

New York City’s buildings commissioner, Ahmed Tigani, said Wednesday that construction workers were excavating the empty lot next door when the building buckled. The city’s Department of Buildings is investigating what caused the collapse.

The architect, property owner and general contractor listed in city records have not responded to phone and email messages seeking comment.

City officials said a stop work order was issued in March after inspectors concluded the building next door was being demolished without adequate overhead protection such as netting to shield neighboring buildings, the department said in an emailed statement.

In April, inspectors found that the demolition work had resumed in violation of the stop work order, the department said. Work was allowed to continue in May after the problems were corrected, it said.

The project has active permits for excavation and foundation work.

___

McCormack reported from Concord, New Hampshire. Associated Press writers Yuki Iwamura in New York; Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut; Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin; Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa; R.J. Rico in Atlanta; Laura Turbay in Little Rock, Arkansas; and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.

Black Workers Still Feel Strains Despite October’s Hiring Gains

by Karen Juanita Carrillo

November 12, 2026

Amsterdam News

For Black women 20 and older, unemployment dropped to 6.5%, but some 72,000 fewer are now employed. (Credit: Pexels photo)

Black unemployment dropped from 7.0% in September to 6.6% in October, but it was still above the 3.7% rate of white workers, the latest government figures show. Employers were able to add 165,000 payroll jobs during the month, while overall unemployment stood at 4.1%. This made the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ October jobs report appear to be positive, but fewer Black Americans are working according to the report.

Cantrell Dumas, a senior researcher at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, cautioned against celebrating the October jobs report. “Once you get past the numbers, you realize that it’s more smoke and mirrors than anything else,” he said.

For Black workers, 2026 has been an uneven year. Black unemployment was at 7.1% in March and 7.3% in April, before easing to 6.6% in June, 6.3% in July and 6.0% in August. In September it jumped to 7.0%. October’s decline was generally minor.

Black employment declined by 56,000 in October, while the number of Black people outside the labor force increased by 186,000. Participation — the share of people working or actively seeking work — fell from 62.5% to 62.0%. People not looking or unavailable for work generally are not counted as unemployed.

Dumas said it’s unclear where those workers went. Caregiving for family members and entrepreneurship were possibilities, he said.

Among Black adults 20 and older, women’s unemployment went down to 6.5%, but participation fell to 61.3%, and employment declined by 72,000. Men’s unemployment fell to 5.3%, while participation rose to 68.4% and employment increased by 129,000.

For Black teenagers ages 16–19, unemployment rose from 19.9% in September to 23.3% in October, compared to 12.2% for white teens. In October, approximately 625,000 Black teens were employed, and 190,000 were unemployed. Summer data for the 16–24 age group show that young Black workers were predominantly employed in leisure, hospitality, and retail.

In 2025, 18.4% of employed Black men worked in transportation and material-moving occupations like driving forklifts, trucks, and cranes and working in jobs that utilize conveyor systems. Black women were in professional, service, and office work; 26.8% worked in service occupations.

Public-sector jobs used to be where white-collar Black workers could be guaranteed fair pay and stability because it was where antidiscrimination protections were more likely to be enforced. But recent federal workforce cuts have reduced the number of those jobs. Dēmos analyst Daniella Zessoules notes in her blog, “Black Women Are Being Left Behind in a Changing Labor Market,” that public-sector job losses outweighed Black women’s 2025 gains in education and health care, creating a net loss of 79,000 jobs, alongside 45,000 federal jobs lost in 2026.

October brought 42,000 health care jobs and 25,000 transportation and warehousing jobs nationally. But Zessoules says federal cuts and DEI rollbacks were potential contributors to worsening Black employment.

“An economy adding jobs isn’t necessarily an economy creating equitable opportunities,” Zessoules writes. “To understand whether the labor market is working for working people and families, we must look beyond how many jobs are added and ask where jobs are added, where they’re disappearing, and who has a fair chance of finding work.

As a new Congress takes shape,” she continued, “policymakers must focus not only on creating jobs but on ensuring that workers, and Black women in particular, have access to the work they want and dismantling the structural barriers that limit Black women’s ability to thrive in the labor market.”

Dumas urged incoming lawmakers to look at the policies that operated successfully during the post-COVID recovery, when unemployment improved across races. “Look into what policies were in place during a time where Black unemployment was at its all-time low –– and not just Black unemployment, unemployment in general, for all races.”

“What was in place? What had transpired? What was it that boosted the economy to the way or to the point where everyone was within a percentage point of each other? I don’t know, but it was very close in terms of the overall unemployment rate. So, I would think that if I’m a new senator, a new representative, I’d look into policies from when the economy was booming and see if we can copy what was in place then.”

EDITORIAL: A Battle is Won, But the War is Not Over!

Amsterdam News

November 12, 2026

Nevada Gov.-elect Aaron Ford poses with volunteers and supporters after his gubernatorial race win. (John Locher/AP)

Every Friday, get the latest arts and culture happenings.

Amid the celebratory action after the “blue wave” last Tuesday, two astonishing African American victories were not as broadly mentioned as they deserve: Democrat Aaron Ford’s win in Nevada’s gubernatorial race and Democrat Janeese Lewis George taking the Washington, D.C., mayoral contest to replace the outgoing Muriel Bowser.

Ford joins Keisha Lance Bottoms in Georgia, Republican Byron Donalds in Florida, Wes Moore in Maryland, and David Crowley in Wisconsin as Black governors — an unprecedented number. Lewis George is also part of a unique ensemble, joining Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York City, Katie Wilson of Seattle, Nithya Raman of Los Angeles, and David Morales in Providence, R.I., as Democratic Socialist mayors.

All of this looks good on paper, but in one sense, it’s just the halfway point and we must still endure a president who has executive and veto power and is known to be very vindictive after suffering a defeat. Donald Trump is like a wounded tiger, which makes him all the more dangerous.

The several historic firsts, including a record number of women, will certainly test the push for unity among the Democrats, with some already stating they will not support Chuck Schumer at the helm in the Senate. Hakeem Jeffries, as the potential House leader, may face a similar fractious constituency.

The next 24 months, like the recent two years of Trump, are sure to be tumultuous. Let’s hope the Democrats take advantage of having the GOP on the ropes and go for the knockout.

Sure, we have reason to celebrate after enduring such repressive and demagoguery from the Trump administration, but we must remember, as we did during the civil rights fights, to keep our eyes on the prize and to know that we have won one battle but the war is not over.

Chris Van Hollen Says He Will Run for Senate Majority Leader

The announcement is a setback for longtime Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, who remains favored to win.

Jordain Carne, Politico

11/12/2026, 10:16pm ET

Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen said Thursday that he will run for majority leader, challenging longtime Democratic leader Chuck Schumer.

Van Hollen said in a statement that the midterm election results are a sign Americans want “change” not only from “Donald Trump’s disastrous policies” but also from a “status quo that isn’t working for working people.”

“It’s now on us to meet this moment, and to do that we need new leadership. This is not about any one person — it’s about answering the call of the American people,” he said in the statement.

Van Hollen’s decision is a setback to Schumer, who remains favored to become leader but had previously predicted that he would not have a challenge. Democrats will hold their caucus elections next month.

Schumer has repeatedly predicted since the Democrats won a majority in last week’s midterms that he will be elected majority leader. In a statement after Van Hollen’s announcement Thursday, he said he has already locked up the votes in the race.

“I welcome any discussion about the future of our caucus and the important work ahead. I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished together — 55 seats and counting is an amazing result — and I have the votes to continue serving as Democratic Leader,” Schumer said in a social media post.

“I look forward to leading our new Democratic majority and delivering for the American people,” he added.

Van Hollen said in an MSNOW interview he had the support of more than 10 of the 55 Democratic senators who are known to be voting but acknowledged that he was the “underdog” in the race.

“I’ve gotten feedback from members of the caucus,” Van Hollen added. “And my view is this is very much in flux. … People will have to make a decision one way or the other.”

Several Senate Democrats — including Ruben Gallego of Arizona, Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York — have publicly said they will support Schumer for leader. Several other Democratic senators who were granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive leadership race have said either in interviews or through their offices that they intend to vote for Schumer during the closed-door election.

Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who caucuses with Democrats, said in a statement Thursday night that he is backing Schumer for leader, calling him “one of the principal architects of the most successful election in modern history.”

But Schumer, 75, has emerged as a frequent target for the party’s base, which began calling for his ouster last year after he helped advance a GOP funding bill to avert a shutdown just a couple of months into Donald Trump’s second term.

Even as Schumer has worked to try to shore up his standing within the caucus since then, progressives in his party haven’t forgiven him, and a crop of incoming senators — including Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan, Peggy Flanagan of Minnesota and Troy Jackson of Maine — have said they do not plan to support him.

El-Sayed and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said publicly Thursday they would back Van Hollen.

It’s the culmination of a two-year transformation of a longtime fixture of the Democratic establishment. Van Hollen, 67, has held public office continuously since 1991 — spending 14 years in the House, some of it in leadership, before being elected to the Senate in 2016.

But Van Hollen has grown more critical of party leaders in recent years, particularly their approach to President Donald Trump and the U.S.-Israel relationship. He jumped into the national spotlight last year when he became the first U.S. lawmaker to visit the El Salvador prison where the administration was sending scores of deportees — including a Maryland man, Kilmar Ábrego García, who had been mistakenly deported in contravention of a court order.

He said earlier this year that he was eyeing a 2028 presidential bid as some Democrats privately speculated last month that a senator with higher ambitions might challenge Schumer in a profile-raising bid.

Van Hollen’s thinking on the leadership race evolved after Democrats’ sweeping election win, a grassroots push for change atop the caucus and a flood of supportive calls, a Senate aide granted anonymity to describe his thinking previously told POLITICO.

Van Hollen told reporters this week that he didn’t believe Schumer should have a “coronation.”

“We should not support anybody for leader without a very clear plan,” he said, “and as you know, there are many people who think that a change is required.”

Van Hollen Says He Will Challenge Schumer for Senate Majority Leader

Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland has emerged as a favorite of Democrats seeking an alternative to Senator Chuck Schumer, who says he has the votes to win.

By Carl Hulse

Reporting from Capitol Hill

Nov. 12, 2026

11:11 p.m. ET

Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland announced on Thursday that he would challenge Senator Chuck Schumer of New York for majority leader, setting up a clash among Democrats just as they were celebrating their new majority and planning for a takeover of Congress in January.

The move by Mr. Van Hollen, a progressive Democrat elected to the Senate in 2016 after seven terms in the House representing the Washington, D.C., suburbs, comes as some Democratic senators and activists have called for an alternative to Mr. Schumer, a moderate whom they regard as too tied to the party establishment to lead a newly energized party forward in the next Congress.

Making his announcement in an interview on MS Now on Thursday evening, Mr. Van Hollen said his challenge to Mr. Schumer was “not about any one individual.” Instead, he said, it was to ensure that Democrats answered “the call of the American people” in the midterm elections, which he said was to “bring down costs” and end the war against Iran.

He said he had spoken to a large number of Democratic senators, including the incoming members, and did not believe that Mr. Schumer had a lock on the race, saying he had “more than 10” of the 55 Democratic senators and senators-elect behind him.

“Am I the underdog?” he said. “Yes.”

Mr. Van Hollen, who is also said to be weighing a run for president in 2028, had emerged as the favorite to challenge Mr. Schumer for the post and had expressed increasing willingness to do so in recent days.

Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who aligns with Democrats, said this week that he would oppose Mr. Schumer and had encouraged Mr. Van Hollen to become a candidate.

On Thursday night, Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan, who during his campaign called on Mr. Van Hollen to seek the post, greeted his announcement enthusiastically, saying he was “proud” to endorse him as majority leader.

“Last week, Michiganders rejected the failed status quo and the politics that too often leaves families behind,” Mr. El-Sayed said in a statement. “But we need to earn our mandate. That demands new leadership.”

Senate Democrats are scheduled to vote behind closed doors on Dec. 1 to determine who will be their leader when their party takes the Senate majority on Jan. 4.

In a statement, Mr. Schumer said that he welcomed “a discussion about the future of our caucus and the important work ahead,” but had enough commitments of support from Senate Democrats to be re-elected as leader.

“I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished together — 55 seats and counting is an amazing result,” he said, adding: “I look forward to leading our new Democratic majority and delivering for the American people.”

Mr. Schumer oversaw the Senate Democratic campaign effort that has flipped at least eight seats, with the Democrat Scott Colom on Wednesday called as the winner in the Mississippi Senate race. The Alaska Senate race result has not been called, but the Democrat Mary Peltola is slightly ahead there.

Despite that success, some in the ranks of Senate Democrats have called for a broad discussion of party leadership going forward and a debate over the agenda the party should pursue.

Other Democrats say that the leadership fight is distracting from the stunning victory Democrats recorded on Nov. 3 and hurting their preparation for January.

“We were at 47-53 and now we are at 55, 56,” said Senator John Fetterman, Democrat of Pennsylvania and a strong supporter of Mr. Schumer. He added: “I don’t understand why that’s a conversation.”

On Thursday night, Senator Brian Schatz, Democrat of Hawaii, said he welcomed a conversation “about the path ahead,” but urged his colleagues not to draw out that process. He endorsed Mr. Schumer, whom he credited with leading the party to victory.

“We must move quickly to vote, unify, and get to work,” Mr. Schatz said.

Senator Angus King of Maine, the other independent who caucuses with Democrats, also threw his support behind Mr. Schumer in a statement, crediting him with engineering a historically successful election result.

“Chuck has outlined an aggressive plan for the new Democratic majority, which is directly responsive to the message we heard from the voters, and he has the experience and unique mastery of the Senate process to make it happen,” Mr. King said. “Why would you fire the manager when you just won the World Series?”

Mr. Van Hollen, 67, is the child of a diplomat and was elected to the House in 2002 after entering the race as an underdog in a very competitive primary while serving in the Maryland legislature.

In the House, he became a close ally to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a leading voice on budget issues. In 2008, he led the House campaign effort as Democrats expanded their majority when Barack Obama was elected president and also led the campaign team in 2010.

Mr. Van Hollen was seen as a potential future speaker in the House, but that prospect had seemed far off given Ms. Pelosi’s hold on the office. When Barbara Mikulski of Baltimore was set to retire from the Senate in 2016, he sought her seat and won. Given his experience, Senate Democrats immediately put him in charge of their campaign organization.

In the Senate, Mr. Van Hollen has focused on budget issues and foreign policy. He has been an outspoken proponent of cutting off money for the war against Iran.

On Thursday, he said Democrats’ Senate campaign arm should not take any funding from AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobbying group that many progressives have shunned in recent years.

Progressive activists have urged that Mr. Schumer, 75, face a challenge to remaining in the position. Donors and organizations including MoveOn, Indivisible and the Working Families Party are likely to back and mobilize members on behalf of Mr. Van Hollen, according to a person familiar with progressive groups’ strategy who spoke about it on the condition of anonymity. Some of the donors plan to threaten to back primary challenges against any Democratic senator running for re-election in 2028 who does not come out in support of him, the person said.

Mr. Schumer and his allies have been adamant that he has more than enough votes to hold the position. But secret ballot leadership votes can be unpredictable. Some senators have refrained from going public with their support to avoid coming under pressure from those urging that Mr. Schumer be deposed.

“Circumstances change,” Mr. Van Hollen said. “It is one thing to have someone’s support when you’re the only choice. I think a little democracy in the Senate Democratic Caucus is a good thing.”

Lisa Lerer and Reid J. Epstein contributed reporting.

Carl Hulse is the chief Washington correspondent for The Times, primarily writing about Congress and national political races and issues. He has nearly four decades of experience reporting in the nation’s capital.

European Demonstrations and Strikes Continue

From France to Spain the workers and youth are demanding an end to austerity

By Abayomi Azikiwe

Editor, Pan-African News Wire

November 11, 2026

Political Review

On Saturday November 7 French workers and students went into the streets once again demanding relief from the deteriorating social and economic conditions.

In France these mass demonstrations and stay-aways have been taking place since mid-September.

The November 7 actions represented the fourth straight Saturday in which people held nationwide demonstrations and rebellions. Just two days before there was a two-day general strike throughout France impacting various sectors of the national economy.

Led by high school students as a result of the lack of teachers and dilapidated buildings, the unrest quickly spread to encompass labor unions and the resurrection of the “Yellow Vests” movement which was centered around escalating costs of transportation. France under President Emmanuel Macron has faced increasing police repression and a sharp decline in living standards.

The situation in France and other European states cannot be viewed in isolation from developments in the United States. Pressure placed upon Western European capitalist states through the US tariffs policy, the Russian Special Military Operation in Ukraine and the unprovoked war by the Trump administration and the State of Israel all have triggered inflationary spirals. 

Although the European NATO states have not entered directly into the war against Iran, the impact has been clear. In the United Kingdom the arrest of several people traveling near the Royal Air Force Fairford base was prompted by the White House which wants to link these individuals to the Islamic Republic of Iran. 

These accusations and prosecutions only add further economic and political burdens on the UK government which has serious problems related to unemployment and the decline in public services. Demonstrations and strikes have not yet erupted in the UK although in previous years there have been industrial actions in various sectors including healthcare, transportation and the civil service.

Trump during the early period of his second non-consecutive term demanded that other North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) governments allocate five percent of their national budgets towards defense expenditures. The strain of increasing military costs required cutbacks in other areas of national life. 

These mandates placed upon the French government has compounded an already mounting debt crisis. In Europe overall, the debt burden is 88.8% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). 

A similar concern exists as it is related to the US as the national debt has climbed to more than $40 trillion. An estimated $7.8 trillion has been attributed to the nearly six years that Trump has held the presidency. 

Expanding Unrest Throughout Europe

In a mapping analysis published by Al Jazeera on the recent demonstrations in France and other European states, the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) indicates clearly the broad character of the unrest on the continent. The demonstrations and strikes in France have prompted similar actions in several other states.

In the Al Jazeera report it points out that:

“France is not protesting alone. Since mid-September, demonstrations over rising living costs, low wages and a lack of public services have broken out in 30 other European countries, from Portugal to Poland. Between September 15 and October 30, more than 1,700 protests and riots of 100 or more people took place across Europe, according to an analysis of ACLED data. Although protests in other countries did not reach the same scale as the rallies in France, they may be a sign of discontent spilling over, Alberto Alemanno, professor of European Union law and policy at HEC Paris Business School, told Al Jazeera last month.” (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/11/8/mapping-how-frances-protest-wave-spread-across-europe)

On November 11, there was a one-day general strike in Spain, the first one in 14 years. Millions took the streets to protest the rising inflation which has created a serious housing shortage. 

Participation in the Spanish strike was reported to be as a high as 90%. The strongest level of support was in the coastal regions of Catalonia and Andalucía where the rising costs for housing has created enormous problems for working people.

Even in France, the flashpoint of the European unrest, the people have by no means exhausted their expressions of discontent particularly among the workers and youth. A new round of mass actions and strikes were scheduled to resume on November 17.

In response to the unrest in France, 70,000 law-enforcement agents have been deployed during October and November. Hundreds of people have been arrested while others have suffered serious injuries. 

On what was anticipated for the actions on November 17, an English language French news website has reported:

“Several unions have come together to announce a second day of major ‘interprofessional’ strike action – a ‘grève générale’ – on November 17.  Unions including the CGT, l’UNSA, la FSU, Solidaires, CFE-CGC and FA-FP made the announcement following a meeting with the government on Monday November 9. More unions may back the strike before next Tuesday. The unions are once again calling on private- and public-sector workers to strike, as well as for retirees, pupils, university students, and gilets jaunes protesters to join demonstrations. Marches will be held in cities across France, and unions will look to replicate the numbers seen at the first round of strikes held on November 5. More information on disruption will be available closer to the time, but it is possible that local services, transport, healthcare, and high-street stores are all impacted.” (https://www.connexionfrance.com/news/strikes-and-protests-in-france-in-november-2026/827359)

These series of strikes and rebellions in France and other European states are a reflection of the international crisis within the capitalist system. The Pentagon war policies and the failure to address inflation have worsened the burgeoning class divisions throughout the European continent, the US and other geopolitical regions of the globe. 

In Europe, the UK as well as the US, the rise of far right and neo-fascist political parties has heightened tensions on racial and class levels. In the UK, the Reform UK party has become the largest political manifestation of the efforts to scapegoat migrants and oppressed groups. 

France has witnessed the rise of the National Rally which is as equally anti-immigrant as Reform UK in Britain. Germany has seen the Alternatives for Germany (AFD) gain seats in Saxony-Anhalt, where they won 44.5% of the vote in the last election. 

A national poll during May 2026 placed the AFD with 27% of the national electoral support. However, so far, other political parties have refused to form governing coalitions with the AFD due to their extreme political views. 

In the US, the MAGA Republicans suffered huge losses in the midterm elections. It will be interesting to see how the upcoming elections in France during 2027 will reflect the various political views which are competing inside the country.

Prospects for the Left in the Upcoming National Elections

The presidential elections in France are scheduled to be held on April 18. The left-wing party France Unbowed headed by Jean-Luc Melenchon is seeking to gain broader support in light of the growing militancy among the workers and oppressed. 

Melenchon and his party has issued a program entitled “A Shared Future” which seeks to address the growing economic and political crisis gripping France. Melenchon has participated alongside the students and workers in the most recent mass demonstrations.

France 24 news website provided an assessment of the political manifesto of France Unbowed, saying:

“Hard-left French presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon pledged to raise the minimum wage and restore the country's retirement age to 60 in a speech launching his 2027 election program on Saturday. Mélenchon, 75, ⁠is viewed as the strongest contender on the left and recent opinion polls have shown him reaching the presidential runoff next April against far-right candidate Marine Le Pen – but also indicate ⁠he would lose in the second round. Taking aim at the center-right Macron, he referred to recent demonstrations and rioting in France over the past months. ‘We are living through a strange moment. It is the death throes of the Macron era marked by savagery, police brutality, and the unpredictable, violent outbursts at the end of demonstrations,’ he said. He accused Macron of presiding over a ‘dark end to his reign’ and said that the far right under Le Pen had ‘no idea other than racism’. His manifesto, titled ‘L'Avenir en commun’ (‘A Shared Future’), is the fifth edition of the platform of his party, France Unbowed (LFI), and largely reaffirms policies that have formed the backbone of Mélenchon's previous presidential bids.” (https://www.france24.com/en/france/20261107-french-presidential-hopeful-m%C3%A9lenchon-launches-campaign-by-vowing-lower-retirement-age)

The failures of President Macron and Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu to raise the living standards in France provides openings for the left. Although Lecornu has offered reforms related to education and the rising cost of living, it is unlikely that his policy proposals will result in improvements in the social conditions of the workers and youth inside the country. 

Mississippi Elects Democrat Scott Colom as State’s First Black US Senator Since Reconstruction

By BILL BARROW and SOPHIE BATES

8:30 PM EST, November 11, 2026

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Democratic nominee Scott Colom defeated Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith on Wednesday in Mississippi’s closely contested U.S. Senate race after a prolonged ballot counting process, giving the state its first Black U.S. senator since post-Civil War Reconstruction.

Colom’s narrow victory is a seismic shift in Mississippi, which has been controlled mostly by white conservatives for generations despite having the largest share of Black residents of any U.S. state. The outcome adds to a decisive midterm rebuke of President Donald Trump, whose party suffered defeats in several Republican-controlled states, and it will bolster some Democrats’ argument that their future runs through the American South.

The Associated Press called the contest Wednesday in Colom’s favor after local elections officials spent several days processing absentee and provisional ballots, called affidavit ballots in Mississippi.

“While this is not the outcome we worked for or hoped for, I respect the decision of Mississippi voters,” Hyde-Smith, 67, said in a two-minute concession speech posted online. “I want to congratulate Scott Colom and wish him well as he takes on the tremendous responsibility of representing our great state.”

A spokesman for the senator said she called Colom to congratulate him and concede before the video was shared publicly.

Colom scheduled a victory celebration with supporters Wednesday night in Jackson.

The last time Mississippi chose a new Democratic senator was 1947, and the winner then was a staunch segregationist. Colom, a 43-year-old local prosecutor, capitalized on the large Black population, discontent with the economy and Hyde-Smith’s missteps as she sought a second full term.

“They actually deserve a senator that will listen to them, that actually cares about what they think, actually cares about what they’re going through,” Colom said in the campaign’s closing stretch.

Colom said during the campaign that he could represent all of Mississippi, a state where racial divisions have long defined its politics and society.

“It’s got to be about having a party that represents rural America again, suburban America, urban America — a party that makes sure we actually deliver for voters in ways that make their lives better,” he said.

National Democrats, activists and Mississippians celebrate

Party leaders hailed the senator-elect’s triumph, with nods to the South’s emerging battleground status after other upset victories from North Carolina to Texas.

“Scott Colom is the only person who could’ve gotten this done,” Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer of New York posted online. “Along with his staff and volunteers, Scott ran the campaign of a lifetime and re-imagined what’s possible for Democrats in the South.”

Former President Bill Clinton, a native Arkansan who campaigned with Colom days before the election, addressed the senator-elect on social media, saying he won “because you believe in the promise of your state’s people. And they believed in you right back.”

Vera Finley was among those supporters, and she arrived early Wednesday to Colom’s victory party.

“I am here to celebrate my parents and my grandparents. I am not one generation out of the cotton fields,” Finley said. “Both of my parents picked cotton. And my great grandmother was sold here as a slave from Virginia to here. So I am so excited to be on this side of history.”

Another Mississippian, NAACP President Derrick Johnson, issued a statement saying the state’s voters “made history because they refused to be intimidated, discouraged, or counted out.”

“In a state that has witnessed some of the nation’s most difficult battles for voting rights, Black voters once again demonstrated the power of civic engagement and the strength of our democracy,” Johnson said.

A race Washington once viewed as a long shot

Despite Schumer’s support, the contest was a latecomer to the national spotlight, finally drawing attention and money months after Black senators, including Georgia’s Raphael Warnock and Maryland’s Angela Alsobrooks, first urged donors and party leaders to see Mississippi as winnable.

The son of a onetime Republican who worked for President Ronald Reagan, Colom garnered attention for his aggressive campaign as Democrats widened the Senate battleground map and Hyde-Smith’s vulnerabilities crystallized.

He produced of the year’s most widely circulated ads. After Hyde-Smith seemed to brush off high beef prices by saying consumers could choose other proteins, Colom cut a 30-second spot depicting incredulous voters saying they’d “pick another senator instead.”

When Trump came to Corinth, Mississippi, in late October for a rally with Hyde-Smith, Colom walked the line of Trump supporters as they waited outside the gates. He introduced himself, asked about their concerns and explained his priorities.

Later that evening, when Trump called Hyde-Smith to the stage, she said nine words in six seconds: “Is this not the best president in our lifetime?”

Then she stepped away.

Colom’s appearance outside the rally tracked his strategy of criticizing Trump’s policies — especially the Iran war and tariffs that he said were especially hard on Mississippi farmers — without taking personal jabs at the president or people who voted for him. Instead, he consistently put the onus on Hyde-Smith, framing her as a nonentity in Washington — a critique that resonated in a state accustomed to long-serving senators like Thad Cochran, Trent Lott and John Stennis, who all rose to powerful posts and routed federal money back to Mississippi.

There is some irony to Hyde-Smith losing to Colom. In 2022, then-President Joe Biden nominated Colom to be a U.S. District Court judge in the Northern District of Mississippi. Mississippi’s senior Republican Sen. Roger Wicker and former Gov. Haley Barbour, who is also a former national Republican chairman, backed the nomination.

Hyde-Smith, however, blocked Colom’s confirmation under the Senate tradition that members can spike a president’s choices for federal judicial positions in their home state. Colom said his campaign was never about getting even with Hyde-Smith.

Colom called on Mississippi’s history

The senator-elect concluded his campaign with an ad that featured him at the Jackson home of Medgar Evers, the civil rights leader who, in 1963, was gunned down in his driveway by a white supremacist and died in front of his family.

“In Mississippi, no one is above the law, and no one should be outside its protection,” Colom said, telling the story of Evers’ military service at Normandy in World War II, his voter registration efforts in Mississippi, his assassination and the three decades it took to win a conviction.

“He was killed for helping Mississippians vote,” Colom said. “On Tuesday, use your vote and honor everyone who died for that right.”

Schumer helped Colom raise money, and he drew financial support from other outside players, including Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a billionaire and potential presidential candidate.

Former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Kamala Harris campaigned on Colom’s behalf in the campaign’s closing weeks.

Despite Republicans’ domination, the path was always there

Because of the Black population and its alignment with Democrats, Mississippi’s general elections have been closer for years than its immediate Southern neighbors. Trump won by double digits in each of his three presidential contests, but in 2023, Republican Gov. Tate Reeves managed to win reelection by a margin of just 3 percentage points.

Colom and other Black party leaders and strategists insisted throughout 2026 that he could narrow the gap with strong Black turnout, Republican voter discontent and an uptick in Democrats’ usual share of the white vote in Mississippi.

Results showed strong turnout in the Mississippi Delta and its concentration of majority Black counties. But nearly all of the state moved leftward from the 2024 election, when Trump carried Mississippi by nearly 23 points.

Then-Gov. Phil Bryant first appointed Hyde-Smith, who was state agriculture commissioner, to the Senate in 2018 when Cochran resigned. She won a special election runoff in 2018 and a full term in 2020. Both times she defeated Democrat Mike Espy, a former U.S. agriculture secretary who’d also been Mississippi’s first Black congressman since Reconstruction.

During the extended vote count, Colom acknowledged the historic nature of doing what Espy could not. But he said he sees his place more in terms of other Mississippians, especially its youngest residents, than his individual story.

“My job is to do well enough as the next United States senator that the next time some young Black boy or girl has the work ethic, the vision, and the values,” he said, “and they want to be United States senator, that nobody says because of anything I’ve done that they shouldn’t get a chance.”

__

Barrow reported from Atlanta and Washington.

Black University of Mississippi Students Victimized by Racist Gestures

By TERRY TANG

7:20 PM EST, November 11, 2026

Three Black University of Mississippi students who shared a now-viral Ring camera video of two white students making monkeylike sounds and gestures outside their front door say they received an apology from one woman.

But the other only amplified her behavior, they said, divulging details of the rest of the encounter that weren’t captured on camera.

“She continued to make the gestures after the girl was apologizing. It was like a slap in the face,” Victoria Johnson told “CBS Mornings” in an interview that aired Wednesday.

Johnson was joined by her roommates, Jakiyra Metcalf and Kaiyden Caldwell, to talk about the incident that has ignited a firestorm on the Ole Miss campus and across social media. The animalistic gestures and sounds are seen as racist because they were reminiscent of ugly, old stereotypes comparing Black people to simians.

For it to happen at a college community in the Deep South with a long history of racism has added to the raw emotions.

Metcalf saw the video Friday and she and Johnson went outside to talk to the two women, who had another friend with them. She was only seen glancing at the door in the video.

They said one woman, Alaina Kunes, apologized but said they had been making animallike noises and gestures in front of other doors in the apartment complex. But the second woman, who lives in the complex, purportedly kept the antics going off camera.

Metcalf’s TikTok post has been viewed over 13 million times in four days. On Monday, the university posted a statement condemning the actions in the video as “offensive, hurtful, and unacceptable behaviors that conflict with our university values.” School officials also said the incident is being investigated and they are dedicated to “maintaining a safe and welcoming environment.”

Kunes, 18, issued a public apology Tuesday through a law firm.

“Before the incident on Nov. 6, I never met the women involved and was unaware of their race, however I recognize my actions were insensitive, inappropriate and deeply harmful,” Kunes said. “I would have never intentionally made those noises or gestures toward a person of color. I have apologized to the women and I pray they will forgive me.”

She has since withdrawn from school. She also said she would fully cooperate with any investigation.

The statement was originally posted on the firm’s website, but it had to be taken down because of ongoing harassment, said Kate Gardiner, a spokesperson for the firm.

Kunes will not be speaking beyond the statement, Gardiner added.

Outrage at taunting prompts opposition to social media shaming

The outrage against Kunes and the second woman, who has not publicly identified herself, has also stirred up opposition against using social media to malign them.

Tom Hennessey, an influencer tied to online fundraisers for people criticized for making xenophobic remarks, is credited with starting a fundraiser for the other woman on Christian fundraising platform GiveSendGo. It has raised over $30,000 as of Wednesday afternoon. The fundraising page states the “online mob (is) treating a juvenile stunt as a hate crime because the residents were Black.”

The fundraiser also says it could possibly be canceled if the woman “disavows our support and bends the knee” and apologizes.

When contacted via X, or Twitter, DM, Hennessey said there is a double-standard and less attention is given to Black-on-white crime. He declined to say whether he had been in touch with the student about the fundraiser.

This is not the first time the university has been the backdrop for a Black student dealing with taunting animal-like mimicking. In a May 2024 campus demonstration over the Israel-Hamas war, a counter---protester made monkey sounds and gestures at a Black wemale student. The interaction was filmed by a student journalist. The video got the attention of outgoing Georgia Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, who appeared to praise the behavior in a tweet.

University has ties to nation’s desegregation movement

Ole Miss also has a long history with racism, civil rights and segregation. In 1962, activist James Meredith was the first Black person to be admitted to the school after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in his favor.

Then-Gov. Ross Barnett tried to block his admission but could not disobey federal law, according to the National Museum of African American History & Culture. Still, white objectors instigated a riot on campus. Two bystanders died and over 200 arrests were made.

Metcalf, Caldwell and Johnson hedged when asked if they forgive Kunes.

“I still have very mixed feelings about it,” Metcalf said.

Caldwell said she appreciated the apology but said it doesn’t change what happened.

“It’s still hurtful, and it’s still devastating that someone would go to our camera and do that,” Caldwell said.

Nigerian Court Orders Journalist Kept in Custody Over Report, Renewing Concerns Over Media Freedom

An unidentified woman sells Nigerian national flags during an event to mark Nigeria independence day in Lagos, Nigeria, Oct. 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba, File)

By DYEPKAZAH SHIBAYAN

8:27 AM EST, November 11, 2026

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — A decision by a court in Nigeria to keep an investigative journalist in custody has sparked widespread outrage, renewing concerns about media freedom in the country.

Daniel Ojukwu, with the Foundation for Investigative Journalism, or FIJ, a local investigative media house, was jailed on a 12-count charge for allegedly violating the country’s cybercrime act, pending a bail hearing. The court’s decision was issued on Tuesday.

The law has long been seen as a tool to censor journalists in Nigeria, where journalists are exposed to political persecution over reports.

Nigeria is ranked 112th out of 180 countries in the 2026 World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders — only improving by 10 places since 2025.

At least 29 journalists have faced prosecution under Nigeria’s cybercrimes law since it was enacted in 2015, the Committee to Protect Journalists said in a report in October 2024.

Ojukwu was arrested for a report on the alleged financial mismanagement of more than 147 million naira ($109,000) involving a senior government official, according to the charge sheet seen by The Associated Press. The case was filed by the office of the Inspector-General of Police.

In 2024, Ojukwu was secretly detained in Lagos and later found in Abuja after being missing for several days over the same report. He was released following a public outcry and pressure from human rights groups.

“If you have seen the copy of the charge, it was filed in September 2024. FIJ was not aware of that until recently when he was detained,” Abimbola Ojenike, one of Ojukwu’s lawyers, told the AP on Wednesday.

Amnesty International condemned the arrest, saying Wednesday that the detention “raises serious concerns about the use of judicial processes to intimidate journalists and undermine the right to freedom of expression and media freedom in Nigeria.”

The court scheduled the reporter’s bail hearing for Dec. 1, meaning that he will remain in Kuje prison in the country’s capital until then.

Teen Arrested in Killing of Ghanaian Student, 15, on His Way to School in New York City

People walk past the Bronx Criminal Court, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026, in the Bronx borough of New York. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)

By JENNIFER PELTZ

8:38 PM EST, November 11, 2026

NEW YORK (AP) — A teenager was arrested Wednesday in the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old Ghanaian immigrant on his way to school, New York City police said as the victim’s family, Ghana’s government and civil rights advocates pressed for justice.

The 17-year-old male suspect was arrested on murder and other charges in the Oct. 29 death of Javits Frimpong, the New York Police Department said. The suspect’s name wasn’t released, and it wasn’t immediately clear whether he has an attorney who can respond to the allegations.

The killing has sparked protests in New York and prompted Mayor Zohran Mamdani to ask President Donald Trump to arrange a visa for Frimpong’s mother, Doris Adu Gyamfi, to travel to the U.S.

“I need justice for my child,” she said at a news conference Wednesday, then broke down in tears.

Police didn’t say what motivated the gunfire on a Bronx street as Frimpong was walking to school. The teen’s family has said he was being bullied at school, and Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said last week that officers were looking into bullying or other possible motives, such as robbery. Kenny suggested there were “three perpetrators” involved.

News of the arrest came as Frimpong’s kin, civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, the Rev. Al Sharpton and Ghana’s U.N. ambassador, Samuel Yao Kumah, gathered at Sharpton’s National Action Network headquarters for a previously planned news conference.

After leading a chant of “Justice for Javits!,” Crump noted the arrest, but added: “What we’re all wondering is: Why? Why did they kill this young man, this person with such a bright future?”

As Crump spoke, the teen’s mother wept on Sharpton’s shoulder.

Frimpong’s death has shocked Ghanaians, Kumah said, calling the arrest “a step in the right direction.”

Frimpong joined his father in the U.S. a year ago, seeking better educational opportunities, his relatives said. His father, Thomas Frimpong, said his son “was living the dream.”

The teen’s sister, Millicent Frimpong, said he aimed to become a physician and to follow in family footsteps by joining the military.

“He was so ready that he made me save my uniform for him,” she recalled.

She said he wrote in his journal that he was proud to be in the U.S. and that school was going well.

Thomas Frimpong has said that school bullies were bothering his son, a quiet teen who spent much of his time on his cellphone, but that Javits told him: “Dad, I’m OK.” Two students were suspended because of the bullying, the father said.

A message seeking information about the matter was sent Wednesday to the city Department of Education.

Islamic State Group-affiliated Rebels Kill at Least 22 in DR Congo’s Eastern Region

By JEAN-YVES KAMALE and JUSTIN KABUMBA

1:02 PM EST, November 11, 2026

ITURI, Congo (AP) — A rebel group affiliated with the Islamic State group in Congo launched a series of attacks on remote communities near the Uganda border over the past two days, killing at least 22 people and abducting at least 10 others, civil society groups said Wednesday.

The attacks were carried out by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) across eight locations in the Mambasa territory in the country’s eastern Ituri province, according to two civil society and human rights monitoring groups.

“The death toll remains provisional. In addition to the 22 civilians killed, the perpetrators abducted other individuals, and motorcycles and homes were set on fire,” said Marie-Noelle Anatobe, coordinator of the Civil Society of Congo in Mambasa territory.

The attacks happened in nearly inaccessible locations near the border.

Local authorities said despite the attacks, the military is working to stem the activities of the group. “Despite the challenges, constant efforts and actions are being taken to find a solution,” Col. Maxime Tshishimbi, the deputy administrator of Mambasa, told The Associated Press.

The attacks also threaten the efforts to contain the deadly Ebola outbreak in Ituri, the hotspot of the deadliest outbreak in Congo’s history, which has infected more than 11,000 people and killed more than 5,000 people so far.

The ADF grew out of Uganda and was pushed to the border region with Congo, where it has operated for years, targeting civilians. It pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group in 2019.

Both the Ugandan and Congolese armies have been jointly attacking the ADF, but have struggled to make headway against the group.

Local residents often say that the military is absent during the attacks. Last year, the group killed dozens of people in Irumu territory in Ituri province in attacks that the United Nations described as a “bloodbath.”

“This morning, we were left only to count the dead. It is truly deplorable,” said Rams Malikidogo, a coordinator of the Association for the Protection and Defense of Vulnerable Children and Women in Mambasa territory.

Ebola Tops 11,000 Cases in DR Congo’s Deadliest Outbreak

3:56 PM EST, November 11, 2026

BUNIA, Congo (AP) — Congo’s Ebola outbreak has topped 11,000 cases, the government said Wednesday, a stark figure that underscores the severity of the situation as the country grapples with the spread of the disease.

According to the latest health ministry data, 11,042 people have been infected with the deadly virus that has now killed 5,387 — nearly half of those infected in what has been Congo’s deadliest outbreak.

The outbreak was declared in mid-May, and since then Congolese authorities have struggled to contain it due to several factors, including armed conflicts, a health system crisis, poor roads and violence from residents fueled by mistrust and misinformation.

The Bundibugyo virus responsible for this outbreak has no known vaccine or treatment and has spread to eight of the country’s 26 provinces.

The resurgence of violence in the two major hot spots in Ituri and North Kivu provinces has sparked worry among health authorities who are calling for a halt to the fighting to allow health workers unhindered access to the sick.

While Ituri accounts for nearly 70% of total cases, North Kivu has emerged as the main site of new transmission, according to Congolese Health Minister Roger Kamba.

Health facilities and medical professionals have also been targeted by many in communities skeptical of the virus, and there have been several attacks on health workers.

On Wednesday, World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed concern about continuing attacks on health workers, citing two recent attacks that killed four of them. The violence disrupted already limited contact tracing in the hot spots, leaving more than 1,000 contacts lost to follow-up and three unconfirmed cases unaccounted for.

“This appalling attack represents both a major humanitarian emergency and a significant setback to the response,” Ghebreyesus said.

The outbreak has also affected some schools in Ituri, with more teachers contracting the disease. Two head teachers in Bunia, the provincial capital of Ituri, told The Associated Press they are worried about their teachers and students after losing members of staff.

“Our students and the entire staff have been left traumatized. At this stage, we need psychologists to support us, as the situation is extremely difficult,” Isaac Singoma, one of the head teachers, said.

Experts have called for more efforts to slow and contain the outbreak in Congo. The disease has spread to multiple African countries including Uganda, Kenya and Nigeria.

Dozens of Ebola outbreaks have been reported since the disease was first discovered in 1976. The largest and deadliest occurred in West Africa in 2014 to 2016, with 28,000 infections and more than 11,000 deaths.

The current outbreak already ranks second and has had at least three times the number of cases and deaths in the time since it was declared, compared with the West Africa outbreak.

Kenya Discharges Last Ebola Patient, Beginning Countdown to Ebola-free Declaration

By EVELYNE MUSAMBI

5:12 AM EST, November 11, 2026

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya on Wednesday discharged its last Ebola patient, officially beginning the 42-day countdown toward being declared Ebola-free, even as the number of cases recorded in the wider region topped 11,000 since the outbreak began in May.

The country recorded nine Ebola cases in October after the first patient traveled from Congo through Uganda, transmitting the virus to four family members and four healthcare workers.

The first patient and his mother died of Ebola, while the other seven patients have fully recovered. The government had identified 135 contacts who had interacted with the first patient.

Kenya now begins the 42-day countdown to being declared Ebola-free, provided no new infections are recorded during that period.

But while Kenya’s cases have now been discharged, elsewhere in the region the number of infections continues to climb. In Congo, the epicenter of the outbreak, 11,042 people have been infected and 5,387 have died, the government said Wednesday.

The outbreak also spread to Uganda and Nigeria through individuals who traveled from Congo.

Kenya’s Health Minister Aden Duale on Wednesday said the 42-day waiting period is twice the longest Ebola incubation period and would end on Dec. 23, but insisted that the country would continue with its prevention measures.

The Ministry of Health had earlier expressed confidence that the outbreak was under control, noting that all confirmed cases were linked to the first patient’s contact list. This indicated that there had been no community transmission.

Kenya has faced travel restrictions following the Ebola outbreak, with Saudi Arabia announcing an indefinite suspension of visas on Oct. 30. The decision affected hundreds of Kenyan workers traveling to the Gulf for employment, particularly as domestic and hotel workers.

The Ministry of Health had urged Saudi Arabia to reconsider the travel restrictions, explaining that Kenya’s first Ebola case was imported and that all subsequent cases were traced to the initial patient’s contact list. The ministry said all contacts had been identified and traced in line with established outbreak-control guidelines.

The current Ebola outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus and has been described as one of the worst outbreaks on record.

Kenya tightened its border controls designating a specific gate at the country’s main airport for passengers traveling from 10 countries that have reported Ebola cases or border those that have active cases. Passengers are being screened using thermal technology and all new arrivals fill a health declaration form that provides their travel and health information.