International

Mass Abduction of Hundreds From a Niger State Mosque Deepens Nigeria's Security Crisis Ahead of 2027

Minna/Abuja, Nigeria 

More than a week after gunmen stormed a mosque during Friday prayers in Niger State and abducted what residents say were hundreds of worshippers, Nigerian security forces have yet to locate the captives or make contact with their abductors, turning what began as a…

UN Sounds Alarm on South African Xenophobia as Pretoria Bills Neighbors for Deportations

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa  

The United Nations' top anti-racism body issued an urgent warning this week accusing South African authorities of failing to stop a wave of xenophobic killings, displacements and vigilante violence against migrants that has swept the country since early 2026…

Sudan's Burhan Pushes a National Dialogue as War Enters Its Fourth Year — and the Opposition Calls It a Bid for Legitimacy

Khartoum/Addis Ababa 

As Sudan's civil war grinds toward the end of its fourth year, army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan is pressing forward with a proposal for an all-inclusive national dialogue inside the country — an offer his own political opponents met last week not with cautious engagement but with…

Trump Announces 'Biggest Oil Deal in History' as US Claims Majority Control of Venezuela's Oil Reserves

NEWS

President Donald Trump announced late on August 28 that the United States has entered into what he called "the biggest oil deal in world history" with Venezuela, securing majority control over more than 65 billion barrels of the South American country's proven oil reserves. The agreement, negotiated over…

Mutiny Shakes Niger's Junta as Young Soldiers Attack Airport and Presidency

NIAMEY, Niger  

Dozens of soldiers were killed or arrested in Niger's capital, Niamey, after a group of mostly young troops staged an attempted mutiny against the country's ruling junta, attacking the international airport, threatening the presidential palace and briefly seizing the…

Iceland Votes in Knife-Edge Referendum on Rejoining EU Talks, Shadowed by Trump's Greenland Ambitions

Icelanders went to the polls on Saturday, August 29, in a consultative referendum asking a deceptively simple question: should the government resume negotiations to join the European Union. Final pre-vote polling showed the country split almost exactly down the middle, with one widely cited Gallup survey giving the "No" side a narrow 51.6 to 48…