The Syrian military says it is advancing to secure territories formerly controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Aleppo governorate. On Saturday, government troops entered Deir Hafer, approximately 50km (30 miles) east of Aleppo city, following the SDF's announcement of a planned withdrawal from their strongholds beginning early in the morning. SDF commander Mazloum Abdi (also known as Mazloum Kobani) announced via X on Friday
National Unity Platform says opposition presidential candidate seized from his home a day after tense election. Bobi Wines political party says the Ugandan opposition presidential candidate has been forcibly removed from his home and taken to an unknown destination in an army helicopter. The National Unity Platform made the announcement in a social media post on Friday, a day after Ugandans cast their ballots in a tense election that took place amid an internet blackout.
US representative Mike Waltz used his prepared remarks at the meeting to criticise the Iranian government's response to the protests, noting that the ongoing internet blackout in Iran made it hard to verify the true extent of the crackdown by authorities there. The people of Iran are demanding their freedom like never before in the Islamic Republic's brutal history, Waltz said,
President Donald Trump has issued a new demand, accompanied by threatening language, that Hamas disarm, as the second phase of the United States-brokered ceasefire deal with Israel gets underway. Trump pledged on social media late on Thursday to achieve a comprehensive demilitarisation Hamas, threatening the Palestinian group if it fails to do so, and demanded the return the remains of the last Israeli captive.
Global warming is thawing the Arctic and igniting a high-stakes race for the riches beneath its ice. Global warming is heating up the Arctic, and global powers like the United States, Russia and China are manoeuvring to stake a claim to the resources under its melting ice. Some experts say the region, once known as an exception an island of international cooperation in the midst of geopolitical struggles is becoming the site of a second cold war.
By the standards of mega arms deals, the $1.5bn deal for Pakistan to reportedly sell jets and weapons to Sudan's military isn't huge. But the deal, which the Reuters news agency reported in early January was close to being finalised, could prove pivotal in the grinding war that has devoured Sudan for nearly three years between the country's armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
In May 2020, the Venezuelan government released photos and video footage showing a ragtag group of men who appear to have been captured by security forces in a village on the country's northern coast. The Venezuelan government said eight people were killed and dozens more were captured, describing the operation as an attempt to kidnap Maduro and remove him from the country. Among the captured men were two American former Green Berets, who were reportedly hired to train men for the operation in Colombia.
The Foreign Secretary said: "The Arctic is the gateway for Russia's Northern Fleet to be able to threaten the United Kingdom, to threaten Western Europe and Norway, to threaten the United States and Canada. "So it's a whole transatlantic security depends on our Arctic security," she added. Cooper explained that Nato needs to "double down" and "do what we've done in other areas", to make sure that "we really strengthen the security of the high north".
In separate operations across three statesSinaloa, Sonora, and Guerreroauthorities reported the seizure of more than 41,000 liters and 12 tons of chemicals to be used in drug production. The announcement includes the dismantling of a clandestine laboratory in Guerrero and 11 other methamphetamine production sites in Sonora. In Sonora, between the towns of Culiacan and Mexicali, a vehicle containing 212 kilograms of methamphetamine was seized by the Army and the National Guard.
