Western Sahara is the largest disputed territory in the world, designated by the United Nations as a non-self-governing territory, despite Morocco controlling about 80% of it.
The second-round results consolidated their dominance in the most populous centres of the overseas territory, which has been politically polarised for years between pro- and non-independence parties.
These polymetallic nodules, as they're known, take millions of years to form, slowly accumulating metals like nickel, cobalt and manganese. That's made them a target for mining companies, looking to feed the world's growing hunger for materials that go into advanced batteries and other technologies.
During the planning for President Trump's latest strike on Iran, Britain refused to allow the United States to launch air attacks from the U.S.-U.K. base at Diego Garcia, an island in the Indian Ocean. Only a few hours' flying time from the Middle East, Diego Garcia offers airfields long enough for the heaviest bombers and has naval docks large enough for aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines.
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground.
Trump continued, pacing now. He spoke of weakness, of maps redrawn by hesitation, of allies who handed away strategic ground and called it diplomacy. If Britain could give up islands in the Indian Ocean, he asked, why should America hesitate in the Arctic? Greenland entered the room like a ghost-vast, white, and suddenly very real.
We have a process going through parliament in relation to the treaty. We will bring that back to parliament at the appropriate time. We are pausing for discussions with our American counterparts. With the government scrambling to contain the confusion created by Falconer's comments, sources in the Foreign Office said he had misspoke.
These decisions and moves by the UK, say analysts, raise doubts about whether its words are in keeping with its actions in the Horn of Africa. Amgad Fareid Eltayeb, a Sudanese policy analyst, said the UK's credibility is increasingly judged by the risks it is willing, or unwilling, to take. When people believe your words and your actions diverge, they stop treating you as a broker and start treating you as an interest manager, he told Al Jazeera.
Donald Trump's second presidency has been defined by lawless, fascist actions at home and imperial ambitions and performative militarism abroad. He has threatened scores of countries while depicting Canada and Greenland as part of the U.S. His obsession with Greenland has caused severe strains between Europe and the United States and even prompted several European nations to send troops to one of the world's largest islands, which has a population of less than 60,000.