Indonesia is facing a growing rescue and humanitarian crisis after a powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck Flores Island, with the death toll rising to at least 68 and more than 200 people injured. The bigger challenge now is not only finding survivors, but reaching communities that have been cut off by landslides, damaged roads and communication…
President Donald Trump has once again made Iran’s nuclear program the center of his policy, saying preventing Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon remains his “number one Goal”. His statement comes at a particularly important moment because the 60-day period created by a US-Iran memorandum has now expired without a broader agreement. That makes Trump’s…
Two Iranian-launched drones targeting the private office of Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and the home of a senior security official in Erbil may not have caused casualties, but the choice of targets makes the attack more significant than another drone incident. Kurdish counterterrorism authorities said the Hadid-110 explosive drones were launched from Iranian…
More than seven decades after the Korean War stopped, South Korea is once again asking North Korea to talk about peace. President Lee Jae Myung used his Liberation Day speech on Saturday to propose direct discussions with Pyongyang aimed at replacing the 1953 armistice with a formal peace regime. He also suggested that the talks…
Five years after the Taliban returned to power and the United States pulled its troops out of Afghanistan, Kabul is now asking Washington to come back. But this time, the Taliban does not want American soldiers. It wants something potentially more valuable: American money, diplomatic recognition and access to international markets. Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Amir…
Nigeria is making two economic moves that look unrelated on the surface but point towards the same bigger objective: getting more value out of what the country already has. The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) is consulting industry stakeholders on a proposed domestic crude oil and gas swap arrangement designed to make it easier…
Six months into the war between Iran and the US-Israel alliance, Tehran is presenting the conflict as a victory, but the claim says more about Iran’s political strategy than it proves about the battlefield. Major General Ahmad Vahidi, commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said Iran had defeated what he described as the…
FIFA President Gianni Infantino is facing one of the most serious challenges of his presidency after UEFA, CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) jointly accused him of “deception” and a breach of trust over a controversial plan involving the commercialization of the World Cup. But despite the dramatic language, this is not yet a…
Nigeria and Canada have taken a major step towards direct air travel, signing an expanded Air Transport Agreement that allows airlines from both countries to operate scheduled flights between the two countries for the first time. The agreement provides for up to 14 passenger flights and 10 cargo flights per week in each direction, with…
Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have officially submitted a joint bid to host the 2032 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), marking a significant step in the Alliance of Sahel States’ (AES) ambition to showcase regional unity through football despite ongoing security challenges. The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has confirmed receipt and acceptance of the…
