Pope’s Africa Trip Takes Him to a Source of Growth for the Church, and Critical Challenges

By NICOLE WINFIELD

1:03 AM EDT, April 10, 2026

VATICAN CITY (AP) — When Pope Leo XIV pronounced himself a “son of St. Augustine” the night of his election, some Algerians took that to mean his ancestors hailed from the North African country where the 5th century saint lived and died.

Leo’s line, of course, referred to his Augustinian spirituality. But his connection to the Algerian-born St. Augustine, the towering figure of Christianity who is known well to Algeria’s Sunni Muslim majority, served at the very least to favorably introduce Leo to a country that will welcome him Monday for the first-ever papal visit.

Leo’s two-day stay kicks off an ambitious odyssey across four African countries — Algeria, Angola, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea — that is so dizzying in its logistical complexity that it recalls the globe-trotting journeys of St. John Paul II in his early years.

The 70-year-old Leo will cover more than 17,700 kilometers (about 11,000 miles) on 18 flights over 11 days starting Monday and will deliver speeches and homilies in French, Spanish, Portuguese and English. He’s prioritizing a part of the world that is crucial for the continued growth of the Catholic Church, but poses unique challenges as well.

With such a variety of cultures and histories, the themes he’ll raise run the gamut, including migration and the exploitation of natural and human resources in a region that produces much of the world’s oil, but where significant proportions of the population live in poverty. The Vatican says Leo will also speak about corruption in oftentimes authoritarian regimes and the role of political leaders in countries where two of the presidents have been in power for decades.

Huge crowds are expected in Cameroon, where 29% of the population is Catholic and 600,000 people are due to attend one of Leo’s Masses. Leo will preside over a “peace meeting” in Cameroon’s north-west city of Bamenda, which has has been plagued by separatist violence.

“To see His Holiness Pope Leo XIV arrive in Cameroon, for us who are Catholic Christians, it further strengthens our faith, it further strengthens our ties with our God,” said Simon Pierre Ngombo, a Catholic Cameroonian. “It is a perfect moment to touch each other’s hearts.”

A message of peaceful coexistence

Algeria will give the American pope a chance to promote peaceful coexistence between Christians and Muslims, at a time of global tensions over the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran. Despite the war, no extra security measures are planned, the Vatican said.

Leo, who has already positioned himself as an American counterweight to U.S. President Donald Trump, will visit the Great Mosque in Algiers, and interfaith dialogue is expected to be raised, said the archbishop of Algiers, Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco.

On Africa’s northern coast, Algeria fought a brutal civil war in the 1990s that is known locally as the “black decade,” when some 250,000 people were killed as the army fought an Islamist insurgency. As recently as last year, Algeria was still addressing the wounds of its colonial legacy, with legislators voting to declare France’s colonization of the North African country a crime and calling for restitution of property taken by France during its 130-year rule.

The visit “acts as a bridge between the Christian and Muslim worlds, while reflecting the richness of the country’s history,” Vesco told the official Algerian news agency, APS.

However, Algerian authorities turned down the Vatican request for Leo to visit to Médéa (50 kilometers/30 miles south of Algiers) to pray at the Tibhirine monastery, where seven French Trappist monks were kidnapped and killed May 21, 1996, by Islamic fighters during the civil war.

“Algeria has no intention of reopening a painful chapter of its history,” the government daily El Moudjahid wrote in support of the government’s decision.

Leo is expected to refer to the sacrifice of the monks, who were among 19 priests, nuns and other Catholics killed during the war. They were beatified in 2018 as martyrs for the faith in what was then the first such beatification ceremony in the Muslim world.

A growing church, with growing challenges

Africa as a whole contributed more than half of the 15.8 million new Catholics who were baptized in 2023, or 8.3 million new African Catholics, according to the latest Vatican statistics.

The continent also contributes thousands of men to the priesthood and women to religious orders each year, turning a continent that was long on the receiving end of Western missionaries into one that exports its priests and nuns abroad.

According to Vatican statistics, Angola and Cameroon consistently produce some of the largest number of seminarians on the continent each year. As of December 2024, for example, Angola had 2,366 priestly candidates in major seminaries and Cameroon had 2,218, just behind the African vocation powerhouses of Nigeria, Congo and Tanzania.

But the exponential growth has brought challenges, as well. When past popes addressed African clergy, they often reminded them of the need to adhere to vows of celibacy. When Pope Benedict XVI visited Angola and Cameroon in 2009, his trip was overshadowed by his comments en route that condoms could make the AIDS crisis worse, drawing condemnation from a host of public health experts.

A big issue confronting the Holy See now is the ethnic rivalries that permeate church life. That is especially true in the nomination of bishops, who oftentimes are responsible for swaths of territory covering various ethnic groups, and find themselves rejected by priests or faithful, said the Rev. Fortunatus Nwachukwu, No. 2 in the Vatican’s missionary evangelization office.

The problem is known as the “son of the soil syndrome,” when the Holy See insists “the church should speak of the ‘son of the church,’” he said.

Another question facing the African church is the practice of polygamy, which has been raised so insistently by African bishops as a critical issue over the years that the Holy See last year published an entire doctrinal document on the value of monogamy and created a special study group on it.

Catholic doctrine holds that marriage is a monogamous, lifelong union between one man and one woman. That position creates tension and incompatibility with cultural norms in parts of Africa, especially in agrarian and nomadic societies where multiple wives who can produce numerous children are considered a necessity for survival.

Leo will have plenty of meetings with Catholic clergy, bishops and ordinary faithful in which he can emphasize the value of the Catholic family, said Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni.

Extraction industries and corruption

Some of the countries Leo will visit, all former European colonies, are among the world’s biggest producers of oil and minerals, including gold, diamonds and iron, the extraction of which has transformed their economies in recent years.

But Leo is expected to highlight negative effects of exploitation of Africa’s natural and human resources that have benefitted only a few while harming the environment.

That’s especially true in Equatorial Guinea, where President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo has been in power since 1979 and, along with his family, is accused of widespread corruption and authoritarianism.

It’s an issue that Pope Francis prioritized during his pontificate and articulated in his 2015 environmental encyclical, “Praised Be,” which Leo has strongly endorsed and promoted.

A Country-by-country Glance at Pope Leo XIV’s Trip to Africa

ASSOCIATED PRESS

1:08 AM EDT, April 10, 2026

Pope Leo XIV’s four-nation, 11-day trip to Africa is so dizzying in its complexity it recalls some of the globetrotting odysseys of St. John Paul II in his early years.

Themes Leo is expected to raise include Christian-Muslim coexistence, the over-exploitation of the region’s natural and human resources, corruption and migration.

Here’s a country-by-country look at each destination and highlights of the itinerary:

ALGERIA: April 13-15

The Algeria stop clearly carries the most personal importance for Leo, given his ties to St. Augustine, the inspiration of his religious order who lived and died there. Leo will visit Annaba, the modern-day Hippo where the 5th century saint was a bishop.

Migration and Christian-Muslim coexistence are expected to be other top themes in Algeria, a former French colony which is a majority Sunni Muslim nation on North Africa’s Mediterranean coast. Leo will pay homage to migrants killed in shipwrecks trying to reach Europe and will visit the Great Mosque in Algiers.

Last year, Algerian legislators voted to declare France’s colonization of the North African country a crime, approving a law that calls for restitution of property taken by France during its 130-year rule, among other demands seeking to redress historical wrongs.

CAMEROON: April 15-18

One of the highlights of Leo’s visit to Cameroon will be a “peace meeting” he will lead in the north-west city of Bamenda on April 16, featuring testimony of a Mankon traditional chief, a Presbyterian moderator, an imam and a Catholic nun.

Cameroon’s western regions have been plagued by fighting since English-speaking separatists launched a rebellion in 2017 with the stated goal of breaking away from the French-speaking majority and establishing an independent English-speaking state. The conflict has killed more than 6,000 people and displaced over 600,000 others, according to the International Crisis Group, a think tank.

The country is also plagued by fighting involving Boko Haram militants in the north, as the Islamic extremist group’s insurgency in neighboring Nigeria has spilled over into Cameroon.

Cameroon sits atop significant reserves of oil, natural gas, cobalt, bauxite, iron ore, gold and diamonds. The extractive sector accounts for nearly a third of the country’s exports, according to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

But rights groups and the Catholic Church have raised alarms that revenues from extraction rarely reach the rural and indigenous communities that live closest to mining and drilling operations, while foreign companies and a small national elite capture most of the profits.

While French and English companies have long dominated the extraction industry in Cameroon, Chinese companies have moved heavily into the country in recent years, particularly in the gold mining regions of the east.

Last year, United Nations experts reported severe human rights and environmental harms resulting from mercury use in gold mining operations in eastern Cameroon.

The gold mining rush in eastern Cameroon has also led hundreds of children to abandon school to dig for gold, risking their lives at makeshift mines for a dollar’s worth of ore sold on the local black market, according to UNICEF.

ANGOLA: April 18-21

In Angola, where around 58% of the population is Catholic, Leo will pray at the Sanctuary of Mama Muxima, a Marian shrine that has become one of the most important Catholic pilgrimage sites in Angola.

The church was first built around the end of the 16th century by the Portuguese after they established a fortress at Muxima. It became a key point in the Portuguese trans-Atlantic human trade as a place where enslaved people were baptized before they were sent on ships to the Americas.

Angola today is the fourth largest oil producer in Africa and among the world’s top 20 producers, according to the International Energy Agency. It’s also the world’s third biggest diamond producer and has significant deposits of gold and highly sought after critical minerals.

But despite its varied natural resources, the World Bank estimated in 2023 that more than 30% of the population lived on less than $2.15 a day.

The country of around 38 million gained independence from Portugal in 1975, but still bears the scars of a devastating civil war that began straight after independence and raged on and off for 27 years before finally ending in 2002. More than half a million people are believed to have been killed.

In Angola, Leo will address young people especially to offer a message of hope and healing, the Vatican said.

EQUATORIAL GUINEA: April 21-23

The discovery of offshore oil in the mid-1990s transformed Equatorial Guinea’s economy virtually overnight, with oil now accounting for almost half of its GDP and more than 90% of exports, according to the African Development Bank.

Yet more than half of the authoritarian petrostate’s population still live in poverty, the World Bank reported last year.

The former Spanish colony is run by Africa’s longest-serving president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has been in power since 1979 and is accused of widespread corruption and authoritarianism.

Several rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, have documented how revenues have enriched the ruling Obiang family rather than the broader population, where at least 70% of the country’s nearly 2 million people live in poverty.

The country’s government also faces rampant accusations of harassment, arrest and intimidation of political opponents, critics and journalists.

In addition to the negative impacts of the extraction industries, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said Leo would raise issues of corruption and the proper role of governing authorities during the trip.

Eswatini Supreme Court Rules in Favor of 4 Men Deported by the US to Africa and Denied Lawyer Meetings for 9 Months

FILE -Matsapha Correctional Complex is seen in Matsapha, near Mbabane, Eswatini, July 17, 2025. (AP Photo, File)

By GERALD IMRAY

9:44 AM EDT, April 10, 2026

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — The Supreme Court in the African kingdom of Eswatini has ruled that four men sent there by the United States last July under the Trump administration’s third-country deportation program can finally meet with a lawyer after they were denied in-person legal counsel for nine months while held at a maximum-security prison.

A lower court had previously ruled that local lawyer Sibusiso Nhlabatsi, who is working on behalf of the men’s U.S.-based lawyers, could meet with them, but the Eswatini government immediately appealed that decision.

In a ruling delivered on Thursday, the Supreme Court dismissed arguments by Eswatini authorities that the deportees didn’t want to meet with Nhlabatsi, and that they had no right to legal counsel anyway because they had not been arrested or charged with a crime in Eswatini.

Eswatini is ruled by a king as Africa’s last absolute monarchy, and authorities have been accused of clamping down on pro-democracy movements, sometimes violently.

U.S.-based lawyer Alma David of Novo Legal Group, who represents two of the four deported men, said in a statement Friday that the fact that it took nine months of litigation to allow the men to meet with a lawyer “speaks volumes about how hard the government of Eswatini is fighting to deny these men the most basic of rights.”

The four men from Cuba, Yemen, Laos and Vietnam have been allowed to speak by phone with their U.S.-based lawyers.

Eswatini is one of at least eight African nations to have struck deals with the U.S. government to take deported migrants who are originally from other countries. The Trump administration has used the program in its immigration crackdown as a means of quickly removing migrants who are in the U.S. illegally and who can’t easily be sent to their home countries.

Criticism that deportees are denied their rights

Critics have said the program allows the deportees’ legal rights to be violated in countries that have questionable rights records and where the deportees have no ties.

U.S. authorities have insisted they followed due process with the deportations but have largely handed over responsibility for the treatment of the deportees to the countries receiving them.

Eswatini government spokesperson Thabile Mdluli said in a cell phone message to The Associated Press that “the judgment is still new, and the Government has not yet convened to consider any potential future actions, if necessary.”

The four men sent to Eswatini were convicted of serious crimes in the U.S. and had deportation orders, the U.S. government has said. Their lawyers say they completed their prison sentences in the U.S. and their detention at Eswatini’s maximum-security Matsapha Correctional Complex is illegal because they have not been charged with any crime in the African nation.

The US is paying African governments millions

The U.S. agreed to pay Eswatini’s government $5.1 million to take deportees, according to documents released by the U.S. State Department. Eswatini has received at least 19 deportees from the U.S. in separate batches since July and said it could hold them in prison for up to a year. Two of them have been repatriated to their home countries.

The seven other African nations known to have agreed on deals to take deported migrants are South Sudan, Rwanda, Uganda, Ghana, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Congo.

Details of only some of the deals have been published by the State Department, including that the U.S. would pay Rwanda $7.5 million. South Sudan’s government asked the U.S. to drop sanctions against a senior official accused of corruption and help it prosecute an opposition leader in return for taking deportees, according to documents related to that deal. There is no indication the U.S. considered those requests.

Senate Democrats have questioned a $7.5 million payment made to Equatorial Guinea, where the president and his family are accused of systemic corruption, embezzlement and repression. Many elements of the deals have been cloaked in secrecy, including where some of the deportees sent to Africa are being held and how long they will be detained.

More deals are being negotiated

A report in February by Democratic staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said the Trump administration had spent at least $40 million to deport roughly 300 migrants to countries other than their own, including in Africa, Central America and elsewhere.

At the time, internal documents reviewed by The AP showed 47 deportation deals between the U.S. and third countries had been agreed or were being negotiated.

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AP writer Nokukhanya Musi in Manzini, Eswatini, contributed to this report.

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AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

Djibouti Holds Presidential Election with Longtime Ruler Favored for a Sixth Term

By OMAR FARUK

7:15 AM EDT, April 10, 2026

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Voters in the small Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti cast ballots to elect their president on Friday, with longtime leader Ismaïl Omar Guelleh expected to secure a sixth term in office after lawmakers scrapped presidential age limits last year.

Guelleh, 78, has ruled the country of about 1 million for more than two decades. The results of the 2021 election showed him winning nearly 99% of the vote.

He faces a single challenger, Mohamed Farah Samatar, a former ruling party member, in a race analysts say offers little genuine competition. Opposition groups frequently boycott elections, citing restrictions on political freedoms.

Guelleh succeeded his uncle, former President Hassan Gouled Aptidon, in 1999, extending a family-led system that has shaped the country’s politics for decades.

Regional observers from the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development monitored the vote.

“The scrapping of term limits in Djibouti is less about electoral competition and more about preserving regime continuity in a highly strategic state,” Mohamed Husein Gaas of the Raad Peace Research Institute told The Associated Press.

“While it raises concerns about democratic backsliding, external actors are likely to prioritize stability given Djibouti’s critical role in Red Sea security and global trade routes, especially amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East,” he said.

Djibouti hosts multiple foreign military bases, including those of the U.S., China, France and Japan, underscoring its strategic importance along a key global shipping route linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Revenues from these arrangements, along with port services for neighboring Ethiopia, underpin the economy.

But that model leaves Djibouti exposed to external shocks. It depends heavily on Ethiopia’s use of its ports, while global disruptions — including Red Sea shipping insecurity — pose risks to revenue.

In Congo, an Unconventional Christian Movement Has Existential Lessons for the Troubled Nation

By RODNEY MUHUMUZA

7:03 AM EDT, April 10, 2026

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — The founder of one of Africa’s largest independent churches spent 30 years in jail and died a prisoner, banished far from his home by Belgian colonial authorities who judged his activities to be dangerous.

Unexpectedly, Simon Kimbangu’s religious movement spread across Congo and prospered enough that it now has followers even in Belgium, with pilgrims visiting a quaint village south of the Congolese capital of Kinshasa to pay homage to him.

April 6 has been marked in Congo as Kimbangu Day since 2023, a holiday to celebrate the “struggle of Simon Kimbangu and African consciousness.” Some see him as the Nelson Mandela of Central Africa, with comparable suffering but not nearly the fame.

If Kimbangu’s articulation of a home-grown theology of Black liberation appealed to many Congolese in violent colonial times, now his message resonates differently as Congo faces instability stemming from a violent rebellion in the east.

Some Congolese say Kimbangu’s movement — nonviolent, independent, well-organized and resilient — can be a positive example for a nation facing perhaps its worst territorial crisis since independence in 1960. Others say the spirit of sacrifice that Kimbangu embodied should be emulated by Congo’s leaders.

“The first challenge for African leaders, or Congolese leaders, is that they are not free,” said Bwatshia Kambayi, a historian of Congo who sees similarities in the struggles of Mandela and Kimbangu. “African leaders, they do not realize that they have a slavery mindset. We are independent, but we are not free.”

A far-flung, multi-million-member movement

The Kimbanguist Church, officially known as the Church of Jesus Christ on Earth Through the Prophet Simon Kimbangu, is a revival movement. It is believed to have anywhere between 6 and 17 million members, most of them Congolese. Its spiritual seat is Nkamba, a town southwest of Kinshasa that believers call the New Jerusalem.

Although its primary teachings refer to the Bible, the Kimbanguist Church is distinguished by its veneration of Kimbangu as the Black embodiment of the Holy Spirit. Fiercely independent, the church maintains a hierarchical structure and is currently in its third generation of leadership.

The Kimbanguist Church prohibits polygamy, which is socially accepted in Congo. It encourages peaceful ways of resolving conflict among members. A sense of good neighborliness is witnessed in the sharing of foodstuffs for communal events, and the church has invested widely in schools and other social enterprises. Women can rise to positions of authority.

“Women are ministering in the church. They have a key role to play because the church is so thankful for what the wife of Simon Kimbangu did when her husband was in prison,” said André Kibangudi, a church elder. “We should have more female leadership.”

Congo in 1921 was a Belgian colony, the source of raw materials like rubber, timber and minerals that paid for the reconstruction of Belgium after World War I. Kimbangu, a lay Baptist catechist, was an unlikely candidate for leadership. Even though he urged his followers to pay taxes, his religious idea proved too provocative for authorities.

Kimbangu identified God with Nzambi, the deity in the Kikongo language, and presented himself as God’s envoy on Earth. This implied the Blackness of God, subverting cultural representations of the deity as white and possibly European. All the trembling, as Kimbangu touched the sick, alarmed European settlers and reassured the plantation workers who trekked to Nkamba in search of healing.

But he led his ministry for only five months. Facing insurrection charges, Kimbangu was sentenced to death. King Albert I of Belgium commuted the punishment to life imprisonment, and the prophet was exiled to present-day Lubumbashi, about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) away.

Few photos were taken of Kimbangu, who was 64 when he died in 1951. In the stylized photo of him presented in official files, he wears the austere garb of a prisoner, baldheaded and looking quizzical. Sometimes he is painted next to his wife, Marie Muilu, who led the movement until her youngest son, Joseph Diangienda Kuntima, took over in 1959. Kuntima was succeeded by his brother in 1992. The group’s leader since 2001 is Simon Kimbangu Kiangani, a grandson of the founder.

On Easter Sunday, as Kimbanguists prepared for the next day’s holiday, church members at the Kinshasa branch chanted “Simon Kimbangu Kiangani oyee,” praising the leader who was not among them. The group composes its own sacred music, lilting songs that prompt women in green-and-white wraparounds to vigorously shake their bodies. Some in the group were boarding church-owned buses that would take them to Nkamba.

The church’s rules forbid “dating a married man,” said Chantal Makanga, a widow, citing what she considered a striking example of Kimbanguism’s values. “It’s not bad to fall in love or to date me, if the final goal is to get married.”

Border tensions fueling Congo’s crisis

President Félix Tshisekedi’s major challenge is the armed conflict in eastern Congo, where the largest city, Goma, has been controlled by rebels since January 2025. Those rebels, the Rwanda-backed M23, have effectively carved off the mineral-rich North Kivu province and caused the flight of hundreds of thousands, provoking fear of secession and forcing the president to seek drastic measures.

Notably, Tshisekedi has offered U.S. companies access to eastern Congo’s minerals — mostly untapped and estimated to be worth $24 trillion — as a bargaining chip for U.S. support to secure eastern Congo.

But some critics predict an intensification of the problem with the entry of a big new rival for resources into eastern Congo, where the Chinese have long been active in mineral extraction. Some lawyers and activists have filed a petition arguing that a mineral partnership with the U.S. threatens Congo’s sovereignty, and the leader of the National Episcopal Conference likened such a partnership to “selling off the minerals of an entire nation to save a regime or a political system.”

Tshisekedi has embraced Kimbanguists; his prime minister, Judith Suminwa, is one of them. That’s an indicator of the government’s respect for Kimbangu as a champion of Black emancipation and highlights the Kimbanguist movement’s importance as a source of votes.

“The church today is very dynamic, very influential,” said Paul Kasonga, a Kimbanguist pastor of millions in Mongala province.

What Congo’s leaders can learn from Kimbangu “is that the guy didn’t work for himself. He sacrificed himself to free people who had been in slavery, who had been suffering,” Kasonga said.

Kambayi, the scholar and former minister of higher education, said the elite running Congo “are poor men who want to live as rich people.”

“This is not the fight of Simon Kimbangu,” he said. “None of them has reached the level of fighting for people’s freedom, for people’s liberty.”

Toussaint Mungwala, pastor of Kimbanguists in Kwilu province, said he felt the force of Kimbangu’s legacy back in 1981 when he saw a German priest praying while holding a picture of Kimbangu and Muilu. The sight intrigued him and drew him to the Kimbanguist Church.

Five years later, Mungwala converted from Catholicism, convinced that Kimbangu was on the side of the people.

“The lesson that people can learn from the church is that the prophet, the founding prophet, fought for people’s rights,” he said.

Pakistani Defense Minister Blasts Israel Over Genocide in Lebanon

Friday, 10 April 2026 2:04 AM

Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif

Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif has blasted the Israeli regime as “evil and a curse for humanity,” slamming its ongoing genocide against innocent civilians in Lebanon while diplomatic peace efforts are underway in Islamabad.

Taking to the social media platform X on Thursday, the senior Pakistani politician drew a clear line between the Zionist entity’s bloodletting and any pretense of pursuing peace, stating: “Israel is evil and a curse for humanity, while peace talks are underway in Islamabad, genocide is being committed in Lebanon. Innocent citizens are being killed by Israel, first Gaza, then Iran and now Lebanon, bloodletting continues unabated.”

Asif further described the Zionist regime as a “cancerous state” forcibly implanted on Palestinian land, underscoring that its very existence has brought nothing but destruction and instability to the region and the wider world.

Israel is evil and a curse for humanity, while peace talks are underway in Islamabad, genocide is being committed in Lebanon. Innocent citizens are being killed by Israel, first Gaza, then Iran and now Lebanon, bloodletting continues unabated. I hope and pray people who created…

The remarks come as the Israeli occupation army escalates its barbaric assault on Lebanon, killing hundreds of civilians in blatant acts of aggression that have drawn widespread international condemnation.

This latest wave of Israeli crimes follows the regime’s long genocidal campaign in Gaza — which has left tens of thousands of Palestinians dead, mostly women and children — and its aggression against Iran on February 28.

Pakistan has long stood firmly with the Palestinian people and the Lebanese resistance in their legitimate struggle against Zionist occupation and expansionism.

Asif’s statement reflects the principled position of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, which rejects the legitimacy of the Israeli entity and demands an immediate end to its reign of terror.

Since February 28, when Israel and the US began their large-scale and unprovoked military campaign against Iran, the occupying regime has ramped up its assaults on Lebanon.

‎Before the war, Israel carried out numerous violations of a 2024 ceasefire deal it signed with Hezbollah, under which Tel Aviv was expected to end deadly attacks on Lebanon.

Iran and the US announced a 15-day ceasefire on Wednesday based on Iran's 10-point proposal. One of the agreed points, as confirmed by the mediator Pakistan, has been a ceasefire in Lebanon.

Hezbollah Expands Strikes on IOF Amid Israeli Ceasefire Violations

By Al Mayadeen English

The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon announced a series of operations targeting Israeli military gatherings, settlements, and artillery positions across the northern front following "Israel's" violation of the so-called ceasefire.

The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon announced early Friday that it carried out a series of operations against Israeli occupation forces (IOF), describing the actions as a continuation of its response to ongoing aggression and repeated violations of the ceasefire agreement.

Strikes on IOF gatherings and positions

The Resistance said it targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers at the al-Khiam detention center with a rocket barrage.

At 11:00 pm on April 9, 2026, Resistance fighters targeted a gathering of Israeli army soldiers at the al-Khiam detention center with a rocket salvo.

At 8:45 pm on April 9, 2026, Resistance fighters struck a gathering of Israeli army soldiers in the courtyard of the al-Marj site using an explosive drone.

At 10:00 pm on April 9, 2026, Resistance fighters targeted a gathering of Israeli army soldiers at the Baranit barracks with an explosive drone.

At 12:20 am, Resistance fighters targeted a gathering of Israeli army soldiers in the town of Rshaf with a rocket salvo.

At 12:05 am, Resistance fighters targeted the Metula settlement with a rocket salvo.

At 12:30 am, Resistance fighters targeted the Shlomi settlement with a rocket salvo and a swarm of explosive drones.

At 12:30 am, the Resistance targeted artillery positions north of the Goren settlement with a rocket salvo and explosive drones.

At 2:15 am, Resistance fighters targeted the Yarah barracks with a swarm of explosive drones.

 Confrontations intensify across southern frontlines

On the same night, confrontations were reported on the outskirts of Bint Jbeil and Ainata, as well as in Mays al-Jabal and Maroun al-Ras, where Resistance fighters engaged with Israeli occupation forces.

Israeli media reported that long-range missiles were launched from Lebanon toward the Ashdod coastal area, while sirens sounded across multiple areas in the occupied south and central regions following rocket fire.

A powerful explosion was also reported in central occupied Palestine.

Israeli media further confirmed disruptions to takeoff and landing operations at Ben Gurion Airport after a missile launch from Lebanon.

The operations and exchanges continued from Thursday night into Friday morning, with multiple fronts active across southern Lebanon and northern occupied territories, marking an expansion in the scope and intensity of the confrontations.

Israeli strikes kill 300+ in Lebanon, damage key bridge: HRW

More than 100 Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon on April 8, 2026, including attacks on densely populated neighborhoods in Beirut, killed over 300 people and damaged a key bridge linking southern Lebanon with the rest of the country, according to Human Rights Watch.

The bombings, which also wounded more than 1,150 people according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, were described as the deadliest aggression since March 2.

Later on April 8, the Lebanese Armed Forces evacuated the al-Qasmiyeh bridge near Tyre—the last major crossing connecting areas south of the Litani River to the rest of Lebanon. The bridge was also targeted last month by an Israeli strike, prompting the Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to call it a serious escalation and a direct violation of national sovereignty. 

WHO Urges 'Israel' to Cancel Evacuation Threat Near Beirut Hospitals

By Al Mayadeen English

WHO urges "Israel" to cancel the evacuation warning for Beirut’s Jnah area, warning that two major hospitals are at risk amid Lebanon’s worsening medical crisis.

The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, on Thursday urged "Israel" to cancel its evacuation warning for the Jnah area in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, stressing that the area includes two major hospitals and that their evacuation is not possible.

Ghebreyesus warned that the warning issued by "Israel" places critical medical infrastructure at risk, as the Jnah area contains Al-Zahraa Hospital and Rafik Hariri Governmental Hospital.

The WHO statement came after the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) issued evacuation threats targeting multiple areas in Lebanon, including Haret Hreik, Burj al-Barajneh, Laylaki, Ghobeiri, Hadath, Tahwita al-Ghadir, Chiyah, and al-Jnah.

WHO warns of imminent shortage of medical supplies

Earlier on Thursday, the World Health Organization warned that essential first-aid supplies at several Lebanese hospitals could run out within days due to severe shortages. The supplies at risk include bandages, antibiotics, and painkillers.

WHO representative in Lebanon, Abdel Nasser Abu Bakar, speaking to Reuters, confirmed that hospitals are already facing critical shortages in war-related medical supplies.

Abu Bakar warned that if heavy casualties continue at the same scale, the situation would become disastrous, noting that more lives may be lost.  He added that demand has surged dramatically due to the sharp rise in civilian casualties, explaining that supplies normally sufficient for three weeks were depleted in just one day.

Rising death toll and humanitarian crisis in Lebanon

The warnings come after Israeli attacks on Lebanon on Wednesday, which, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health, caused a non-final toll of 303 killed and 1,150 injured, with search and recovery operations for victims still ongoing across multiple locations.

The Ministry said the casualties were mostly women, children, and elderly individuals.

Recovery operations for victims trapped under rubble are still ongoing.

The large number of wounded has also triggered urgent appeals for blood donations, as hospital reserves have been rapidly depleted due to the scale of casualties caused by the strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, the capital, and multiple regions in southern and eastern Lebanon. 

Lebanon seeks ceasefire before engaging in talks with 'Israel'

Lebanon has yet to receive an official date from the United States to begin negotiations with "Israel", with Beirut insisting that a ceasefire must be established before any talks take place, Al Mayadeen’s correspondent in Beirut reported.

According to the correspondent, the upcoming Lebanese delegation will include Ambassador Simon Karam and another senior diplomat, with Beirut awaiting a response from Washington on the expected start of negotiations next week.

Additionally, Al Mayadeen's correspondent reported that Lebanon's official option is a ceasefire before engaging in negotiations. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced Thursday that he had instructed his government to initiate direct talks with Lebanon "as soon as possible." He emphasized that the negotiations would focus on “the disarmament of Hezbollah and the establishment of peaceful relations between Israel and Lebanon.”

Netanyahu also acknowledged Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s call for Beirut to be disarmed but stressed that “negotiations will begin in the coming days.”

The announcement followed talks on Wednesday with US President Donald Trump and White House envoy Steve Witkoff, who had urged "Israel" to ease airstrikes and open channels for negotiation.

According to Israeli broadcaster i24NEWS, the negotiations are expected to be conducted between Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yehiel Leiter and the Lebanese ambassador to the US, a close associate of President Salam, with US Ambassador Michel Issa in Beirut acting as a mediator.

IMF Warns Iran War Will Slow Global Growth and Fuel Inflation Risks

By Al Mayadeen English

Source: New York Times

The IMF warns that the war in Iran and the wider war in West Asia will slow global economic growth, drive oil prices higher, and risk renewed inflation pressures, even if a fragile ceasefire holds.

The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, warned that the ongoing war on Iran and the wider West Asia will significantly weigh on global economic growth this year, driven by damage to energy infrastructure and disruptions to supply chains.

Speaking ahead of next week’s spring meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, Georgieva said that even in the most optimistic scenario, the global economy will not return to pre-war conditions. “Even in a best case, there will be no neat and clean return to the status quo ante,” she said, adding that growth will be slower even if a peace agreement proves durable.

The IMF noted that a fragile two-week truce agreed between the United States and Iran could help limit some of the economic damage. However, Georgieva stressed that the broader consequences of the war are already embedded in global markets.

The fund’s last projections, issued in October, had already anticipated a slowdown in global growth to 3.1% this year, down from 3.2% in 2025. Georgieva said those forecasts are now likely to be revised downward due to the war’s impact on energy markets.

Energy shocks push inflation higher

The war has driven oil prices above $100 per barrel and pushed gasoline prices in the United States above $4 per gallon. The IMF warned that renewed energy shocks could trigger another wave of inflation, forcing central banks to consider tighter monetary policy. "Higher prices for key inputs feed into many consumer goods, lifting inflation", Georgieva said.

She added that if inflation expectations become unanchored, central banks may need to respond with interest rate hikes.

Minutes from the latest meeting of the Federal Reserve showed policymakers remain cautious, closely monitoring the war’s inflationary impact while keeping interest rates steady.

Georgieva also warned against overly aggressive monetary tightening, saying premature action could harm growth. “Concentrate on conditions,” she said. “Because if you tighten prematurely and unnecessarily, you’re throwing cold water on growth.”

Energy security concerns rise globally

The IMF said the war underscores the importance of energy diversification and efficiency as global economies face prolonged instability.

While the IMF reduced emphasis on its green transition agenda since the return of US President Donald Trump, Georgieva stressed that energy shocks highlight the need for long-term resilience in global energy systems.

The IMF will release updated economic projections next Tuesday, including multiple scenarios based on possible outcomes of the war.

Fuel crisis now worse than 1973, 1979, 2002 combined, IEA chief warns

The current oil and gas crisis triggered by the US-Israeli aggression on Iran and subsequently Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz is "more serious than the ones in 1973, 1979, and 2002 together," the head of the International Energy Agency has warned earlier today.

Speaking with French newspaper Le Figaro, IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said the world has "never experienced a disruption to energy supply of such magnitude."

The Strait of Hormuz, through which approximately 20 percent of the world's oil flows, has been effectively closed since the United States and "Israel" launched their war on Iran on February 28. Iran has maintained that the Strait remains open to non-hostile vessels that coordinate with Tehran, while ships linked to the aggressors and their allies remain blocked.

Birol said the countries most at risk were developing nations whose populations will be hard-hit by higher oil and gas prices, rising food prices, and the general ramping up of inflation across global economies.

The warning comes as IEA member countries agreed last month to release part of their strategic reserves amid the blockade. Birol said some of this had already been released, but added that the process was still underway.

IRGC Denies Gulf Attacks, Reaffirms Ceasefire Commitment

By Al Mayadeen English

Iran’s IRGC denies recent attacks on Gulf states and says "Israel" would be responsible if claims are confirmed.

Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) announced that no attacks have been carried out against Gulf states in the past few hours, adding that if reports of such incidents are confirmed, then “Israel” would be responsible.

The IRGC stressed that Iran’s armed forces take responsibility for every operation they conduct “transparently and courageously,” and have no connection to what has been circulated in the media in recent hours.

For its part, the IRGC Navy stated that both allies and adversaries recognize that the management of the Strait of Hormuz has entered a new phase over the past two days.

The denial comes after Kuwait’s Ministry of Defense reported that it was responding to drone attacks that violated its airspace and targeted several vital facilities late Thursday night.

Iran reaffirmed its commitment to the ceasefire agreement brokered by Pakistan since April 8, saying it continues to give diplomacy a chance despite what it described as US–Israeli violations of the agreement and ongoing attacks against Lebanon. It also stated that the cessation of attacks on Lebanon remains a condition for its participation in talks in Islamabad.

Regarding the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian officials stressed the need to develop its management framework in light of recent developments.

Iran denies Islamabad talks amid ongoing war on Lebanon: Exclusive

On a related note, Iranian sources told Al Mayadeen that reports of a negotiating delegation arriving in Islamabad are false, stressing that no talks will take place as long as the war on Lebanon continues, while warning of a potential collapse in ceasefire efforts.

The sources further warned that the United States has only a limited window to restrain "Israel", otherwise, ongoing ceasefire efforts will collapse.

According to the same sources, Iran insists that any ceasefire agreement brokered through Pakistani mediation must explicitly include Lebanon, with full commitment from both the United States and "Israel".

In this context, Fars News Agency quoted an informed source as saying that a ceasefire in Lebanon is an “inevitable and unchangeable” precondition for Tehran to enter any new negotiation process.

Nigerian Army General and Several Soldiers Killed During an Assault on a Base in the Northeast

By DYEPKAZAH SHIBAYAN

4:24 PM EDT, April 9, 2026

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — An army general and several soldiers were killed during an attempt to raid a military base in northeastern Nigeria early Thursday, officials said.

The attack occurred in Benisheikh in Borno State, army spokesman Michael Onoja said in a statement, but it was repelled.

Onoja described the assailants as “terrorists,” which is the term the military uses to describe members of Islamic militant groups in the northeast of the country.

President Bola Tinubu confirmed that a general was killed in the attack.

“The insurgents’ counterattack is a sign of desperation,” he said in a statement. “I extend my condolences to the families of our gallant soldiers, led by Brigadier General Oseni Omoh Braimah, who made the ultimate sacrifice in the defense of our country today in Borno State. The government will never forget their sacrifices.”

“Their sacrifices will not be in vain,” Tinubu said. “Because of the courage and dedication of our troops on the front line, our resolve to defeat terrorism and all forms of violence across Nigeria is stronger than ever.”

Onoja didn’t specify how many soldiers were killed in the latest attack on military bases.

“This attack is a clear indication of the desperation of terrorist elements who, having suffered significant losses in recent operations, continue to resort to futile and ill-fated offensives against well-defended military positions,” he said. “Regrettably, the encounter resulted in the loss of a few brave and gallant soldiers who paid the supreme price in the line of duty.”

Nigeria, which is Africa’s most populous country, is battling a complex security crisis, especially in the north where there is a decadelong insurgency and several armed groups who kidnap for ransom.

Among the most prominent Islamic militant groups are Boko Haram and its breakaway faction, which is affiliated with the Islamic State group and known as Islamic State West Africa Province. There is also the IS-linked Lakurawa group operating in communities in the northwestern part of the country that borders Niger Republic.

The crisis has worsened recently to include other militants from the neighboring Sahel region, including the Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, or JNIM, which claimed its first attack on Nigerian soil last year.

Earlier this year, the U.S. sent 200 troops and drones to Nigeria to assist the Nigerian military in fighting extremists. The U.S. military said that the American troops won’t engage in combat or have a direct operational role, and that Nigerian forces will have complete command authority.

The deployment is part of a new security partnership agreed on after U.S. President Donald Trump alleged that Christians are being targeted in Nigeria’s security crisis. The U.S. launched strikes against IS forces on Dec. 26.

Several thousand people in Nigeria have been killed, according to data from the United Nations. Analysts say not enough is being done by the government to protect its citizens.

Judge Postpones Termination of Temporary Status for Ethiopians

By GISELA SALOMON

3:41 PM EDT, April 9, 2026

MIAMI (AP) — A federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s decision to end a temporary status that has protected more than 5,000 Ethiopians from deportation and allowed them to live and work in the United States.

In his Wednesday decision, U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy from Massachusetts said the Trump administration terminated the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) “without regard for the process delineated by Congress.”

The decision came at a time when hundreds of thousands of TPS holders from different nationalities are challenging the termination of their status at the federal courts. It represents the latest legal setback for the Trump’s administration efforts to put an end to TPS as part of his hard-line immigration policy.

More than 1 million migrants from 17 countries were protected by TPS during President Joe Biden’s administration. But the Department of Homeland Security has terminated the designation for 13 of those countries since President Donald Trump came to office for his second term in January 2025.

Venezuelans comprised the largest group of beneficiaries, followed by Haitians and Salvadorans.

On April 29, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on the administration efforts to terminate TPS for 6,100 people from Syria and 350,000 from Haiti.

TPS was created by Congress in 1990 to prevent deportations to countries suffering from natural disasters or civil strife, giving people authorization to work in increments of up to 18 months.

The Biden administration granted TPS to Ethiopians living in the U.S. in 2022, noting the need to protect them from armed conflict ⁠and humanitarian suffering. In April 2024, it was extended.

Under Trump’s administration, the Department of Homeland Security terminated TPS for Ethiopia in December 2025, saying that the country no longer met the conditions for its designation.

The judge said DHS disregarded the statutory procedures Congress enacted that govern TPS.

“Fundamental to this case — and indeed to our constitutional system — is the principle that the will of the President does not supersede that of Congress,” Murphy, who was appointed by Biden, said in his decision. “Presidential whims do not and cannot supplant agencies’ statutory obligations.”

After Murphy’s decision, DHS reiterated that TPS is a temporary status.

DHS spokeswoman Lauren Bis said the ruling “is just the latest example of judicial activists trying to prevent President Trump from restoring integrity to America’s legal immigration system.”

At Least 21 People are Missing After a Boat Capsizes in Eastern DR Congo on Lake Kivu

By JANVIER BARHAHIGA

12:25 PM EDT, April 8, 2026

BUKAVU, Congo (AP) — A boat has capsized on Lake Kivu in eastern Congo, leaving at least 21 people missing, authorities said Wednesday.

The boat was on its way to the town of Makengere when it sunk on Tuesday, after a visit to a market town. Officials said that 23 people survived, and a search was ongoing for the missing.

The cause of the capsizing was under investigation. It wasn’t immediately known how many people were onboard or the exact number of missing.

Deadly boat tragedies are common in the central African country, where late-night travels and overcrowded vessels are often blamed.

Because of insecurity in eastern Congo, many people are abandoning the few available roads for wooden vessels crumbling under the weight of passengers and their goods. The roads are often caught up in the deadly clashes between Congolese security forces and rebels that sometimes block major access routes.

“Pending the restoration of peace, we urge the central and provincial governments to become more involved in order to find a lasting solution to this situation,” said Koko Chirimwami Akeem, provincial deputy for South Kivu in a statement.

Congo’s rivers are a major means of transport for its more than 100 million people, especially in remote areas where infrastructure is poor or nonexistent.

Hundreds have been killed in boat disasters in recent years.

Tanzanian Leader Orders Smaller Convoys and Shared Buses to Cut Fuel Use as Prices Rise

Tanzania's President Samia Suluhu Hassan delivers remarks during a campaign rally in Iringa, Tanzania, Oct. 5, 2025. (AP Photo, File)

8:07 AM EDT, April 9, 2026

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (AP) — Tanzania ‘s President Samia Suluhu Hassan, whose motorcades are reportedly among the largest in Africa, is cutting down on the number of official and luxury vehicles as part of measures to save fuel as oil prices rise.

Several African governments have announced steps to cope with fuel shortages and rising prices. Madagascar on Tuesday declared a state of emergency to reduce fuel consumption, while South Africa cut the fuel levy, and Ethiopia introduced rationing. Senegal banned all but essential foreign trips for government ministers.

“From today, whenever I travel, the officers accompanying me will use consolidated transport in small buses to reduce fuel consumption and operational costs during this period,” Hassan said Wednesday.

In the past, the president’s convoy had dozens of luxury vehicles carrying government officials, protocol officers and security personnel. A video of her 30-car convoy was once shared online, sparking conversations about African presidential convoys. Hassan has one of the continent’s longest motorcades.

She said Tanzania had fuel reserves that could last up to three months, but cautioned businesses against inflating prices.

The price of fuel has risen by $0.40 per liter in the last two weeks, fueled by the Iran war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Benin is Holding an Election for a New President as Security Worsens and Critics Denounce Clampdown

By VIRGILE AHISSOU and MARK BANCHEREAU

1:48 AM EDT, April 9, 2026

COTONOU, Benin (AP) — Voters in Benin will vote Sunday to elect a new president as outgoing leader Patrice Talon steps down after a decade in power with a mixed legacy of economic growth, but also a growing jihadi insurgency in the north and a clamp down on the opposition and critics.

Romuald Wadagni, the 49-year-old finance minister and governing coalition standard-bearer, is considered Talon’s anointed successor. Wadagni is being challenged by Paul Hounkpè, the sole opposition candidate.

In the parliamentary election in January, the opposition failed to cross the 20% electoral threshold required to win seats, leaving Talon’s two allied parties in control of all 109 seats in the National Assembly and in good position before Sunday’s vote.

Renaud Agbodjo, leader of The Democrats, was barred from competing after failing to secure a sufficient number of parliamentary endorsements — a threshold critics say was engineered to keep rivals out.

With the main opposition sidelined, Wadagni is widely considered a favorite due in part to his strong economic track record and broad support from influential figures across historically rival camps, said Fiacre Vidjingninou, political analyst at the Lagos-based Béhanzin Institute.

“Ten years at the Finance Ministry have given him something rare in African politics: a quantified record — verifiable and difficult to dismantle in a serious debate,” Vidjingninou said.

The first round of the vote is set for April 12. In order to secure an outright victory, the winner would need to secure at least 50% of the votes. If that doesn’t happen, a runoff will be conducted on May 10 between the top two candidates.

Nearly 8 million people are eligible to vote in the election.

Strong economy but unequal gains

Wadagni is campaigning heavily on the country’s economic performance during his decade as finance minister. Benin’s economy grew 7% last year, according to the International Monetary Fund, making it one of West Africa’s steadiest performers.

Under Talon, the country sustained robust growth for nearly a decade, driven by agriculture, trade and a major port expansion in the economic hub Cotonou that turned Benin into a key transit point for landlocked neighbors. Infrastructure has also expanded.

However, the gains have been unequally shared, with poverty remaining widespread in rural areas and in the poorer northern region.

Critics denounce democratic backslide

While Benin has historically been among the most stable democracies in Africa, opposition leaders and human rights organizations have accused Talon of using the justice system as a tool to sideline his political opponents, after taking office in 2016 and changing electoral rules.

In November, a constitutional reform extended presidential terms from five to seven years, established a partially presidential-appointed senate, and further raised the bar for opposition parties to enter parliament.

Rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have denounced a sustained crackdown on dissent under Talon, citing arbitrary detentions, tight restrictions on public demonstrations and mounting pressure on independent media outlets.

Protests over the rising cost of living sprang up in recent years, but the government and security forces clamped down on them.

Security crisis and political instability

Last December, a group of military officers attempted to topple Talon’s government in a failed coup, the latest in a series of recent military takeover attempts across Africa. Most of the coups and attempted coups follow a similar pattern of disputed elections, constitutional upheaval, security crises and youth discontent.

Among the coup leaders’ key complaints was the deterioration of security in northern Benin.

For years, the country has faced spillover violence in its north from neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger in their battle against the al-Qaida-affiliated extremist group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, or JNIM.

The tri-border area has long been a hotbed for extremist violence, a trend worsened by the lack of security cooperation with Niger and Burkina Faso, both now led by military juntas.

Last year, an attack by Islamic militants on military posts killed 54 soldiers.

Vidjingninou said that while the foiled coup in Benin has weakened the narrative of stability of the outgoing administration, the climate of instability might work in favor of the governing party candidate.

“In a context perceived as unstable, cautious voters tend to choose continuity and familiarity over the risk of the unknown,” he said.

Divided voters

Roch Gbenou, a civil servant living in Cotonou, said two key issues stand out for him before Sunday’s vote: Equal distribution of wealth, and restoration of democratic freedoms, which “appear to have been substantially restricted” in recent years.

Gbenou, however, said that he has little hope for the election, because “it will ultimately only serve to legitimize a choice already made,” suggesting it won’t be a credible process.

Mathias Salanon, a retired police officer, said that he believes Talon has done well and hopes the next president will stabilize the economic and political situations of the country.

“In more than 50 years of my life I have not seen such a fierce will to develop the country as during President Patrice Talon’s 10 years,” he said.

For Sofiath Akadiri, another resident of Cotonou, the most important campaign issues for her are access to health care, education and jobs.

“We also need social justice and the restoration of democratic norms,” she said.

___

Mark Banchereau reported from Dakar, Senegal.

Iran, IRGC Commemorate 40th Day Since Sayyed Khamenei's Assassination

By Al Mayadeen English

Iran marks 40 days since Ali Khamenei’s martyrdom; the IRGC pledges to continue his path amid ongoing Israeli attacks.

Iran marked the 40th day since the martyrdom of Iran's Leader Sayyed Ali Khamenei, an event commemorated with widespread popular ceremonies across the country.

In the context of Thursday's events, a statement issued by the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), the force hailed Sayyed Khamenei’s sacrifice as a turning point in the region.

IRGC highlights Sayyed Khamenei’s legacy

“The end of the dark era of arrogance in the region came by the blessing of the blood of the martyr leader,” the IRGC said, emphasizing that his martyrdom inspired the Iranian people’s resurgence.

The statement highlighted the role of national resistance, unity, and the Iranian armed forces in repelling aggressors, underlining that these achievements are part of the blessings of Sayyed Khamenei’s martyrdom.

Regarding the late leader’s philosophy, the IRGC described it as “a comprehensive system for leadership and governance that we will emulate,” reaffirming loyalty to the newly elected leader of the Islamic Revolution and Republic, Sayyed Mojtaba Khamenei, and pledging to continue the path of Ali Khamenei “with strength and determination”.

Sayyed Ali Khamenei was officially declared a martyr on March 1, 2026, following a US-Israeli aggression on Iran against his home on February 28. Subsequently, Iran’s Assembly of Experts elected Sayyed Mojtaba Khamenei as the third leader of the Islamic Revolution and Republic, citing thorough deliberations under Article 108 of the Iranian constitution and a “duty before God”.

The commemoration comes over 40 days after the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran, and a two-week ceasefire period that was agreed to on Wednesday. However, the ceasefire terms have been breached by the United States and the Israeli regime, after the US endorsed Israeli bombing of Lebanon, saying that a ceasefire in the country was never part of the agreement.

However, at an earlier time, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif mediated and announced the ceasefire, saying that Iran and the United States, and their allies, had agreed to an immediate ceasefire covering all fronts, including Lebanon.

Israeli Massive Bombing Kills 203, Injures Over 1,000: Lebanese MoPH

By Al Mayadeen English

Israeli aggression on Lebanon leaves 203 martyred, including four soldiers, and over 1,000 wounded, as "Israel" escalates attacks despite ceasefire announcements.

The toll from the Israeli aggression on Lebanon has risen to 203 killed and more than 1,000 wounded, Lebanon’s Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine announced on Thursday, saying the figures are preliminary.

The statement came shortly before a Cabinet session, as authorities continue to assess the scale of the aggression that targeted multiple regions across the country.

Lebanese Army confirms martyrs among its ranks

In a separate statement, the Lebanese Army confirmed the martyrdom of four soldiers as a result of the Israeli strikes carried out on Wednesday, underscoring the direct targeting of national institutions amid the escalation.

The Israeli occupation carried out a series of massacres against civilians in various Lebanese areas, leading to mass casualties and widespread destruction, in what constitutes a full-fledged war crime and a blatant violation of international law.

The escalation came despite earlier announcements by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif that Iran and the United States, alongside their allies, had agreed to an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire across all fronts, including Lebanon.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that the proposed ceasefire does not include Lebanon, a position that coincided with a sharp intensification of attacks on the country.

Jalali: Iran Ready for Talks if They Yield Tangible Results - Excl.

By Al Mayadeen English

Iran's ambassador to Russia tells Al Mayadeen that the international community should closely observe how Washington conducts itself at the table.

Tehran is prepared to engage in negotiations with the United States, provided that they produce tangible outcomes and deliver lasting peace to the region, Iran's Ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, stated on Thursday.

In an interview for Al Mayadeen, Jalali said, "If the Americans approach negotiations in good faith, they can lead to results," adding that the international community should closely observe how Washington conducts itself at the table.

He noted that trust between Iran and the United States remains insufficient, pointing to Washington's track record of failing to honor its commitments as the central obstacle. Jalali reaffirmed that Iran does not seek war, noting that "the Zionists and the Americans carried out the aggression against Iran; Iran was the victim in this war."

He added that Iran had come close to resolving outstanding issues in previous rounds of negotiations and reiterated that Tehran is not pursuing nuclear weapons.

US failed to achieve objectives

"Trump's statements contain many contradictions," the Iranian envoy said, describing the current confrontation as "a war of wills" and suggesting that public demonstrations are the clearest indicator of where the balance of resolve lies. "The Americans initially said they would overthrow the system, but they failed, and the situation turned upside down," Jalali said, adding that Washington and the West may have wrongly concluded that Iran is weak.

On Iran's military posture, Jalali said the country had achieved military successes despite the loss of several senior commanders, asserting that its institutions continue to function normally.

"They claimed to have destroyed our navy, yet our missiles remain operational despite all these allegations," he said, stressing that engaging in conflicts is not among Iran's priorities and that it seeks peace both regionally and globally.

Negotiators, date of talks yet to be confirmed

On the question of who will represent Iran in the talks set to be held in Pakistan, Jalali said the identity of the delegation head will be officially announced in due course. Sources cited by Iran's ISNA had reported that Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf would lead the Iranian negotiating team, opposite a US delegation headed by Vice President JD Vance, but an official confirmation from Tehran is still pending.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who brokered the two-week ceasefire between Iran and the United States, stated on Wednesday that talks would begin on Friday in Islamabad. However, a post by Iran's ambassador to Pakistan, Reza Amiri-Moghaddam, saying that an Iranian delegation would arrive in Islamabad on Thursday night was subsequently deleted. When asked about the removal, an embassy official told AFP, "Timing, we were not supposed to send it."

No ceasefire without Lebanon

The talks are taking place against the backdrop of an already fragile ceasefire, with Israeli attacks on Lebanon emerging as a potential dealbreaker for Tehran.

A ceasefire that encompasses Lebanon, alongside the rest of the Axis of Resistance, is explicitly listed as point 1 of Iran's ten-point proposal covering all, leading both Ghalibaf and President Pezeshkian to issue warnings Thursday that Israeli attacks on Lebanon are complicating the path to negotiations.

Pezeshkian stressed that continued Israeli escalation would render the ongoing negotiations meaningless, reaffirming that Iran will not abandon the Lebanese people.

Meanwhile, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh announced that Iran's delegation will head to Islamabad on the condition that "Israel" halts its aggression against Lebanon. He added that any peace in the region must include Lebanon, and that the coming hours will be decisive.

Strait of Hormuz, Russia's role

Jalali addressed the legal status of the Strait of Hormuz, stressing that its governance is determined by its littoral states, Iran and Oman, and that Iran's recent actions were aimed at upholding that legal framework rather than closing the waterway outright. "Iran has never sought to close the strait," he maintained.

On Iran-Russia relations, Jalali noted that Moscow condemned the aggression against Iran from the very first day, with direct communication between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Masoud Pezeshkian beginning early in the war.

Qaani Warns of Punishment for Perpetrators of Brutality in Lebanon

By Al Mayadeen English

Iran’s Quds Force chief Esmail Qaani warns "Israel" of harsh punishment for its attacks on Lebanon, praising Resistance fighters and condemning Netanyahu’s brutality.

Brigadier General Esmail Qaani, the commander of Iran’s Quds Force, issued a strong message to Lebanese Resistance fighters and members of the broader Resistance Front, condemning recent Israeli attacks on Lebanon and pledging accountability for perpetrators.

In his statement, Qaani praised the role of Lebanese Resistance fighters in confronting the enemy, saying their actions “will bear victory”. Addressing the Israeli regime, he warned that “the killer Zionists will regret their actions” and that they will face “harsh punishment”.

He also lauded the steadfastness of Resistance forces, declaring, “I kiss your hands one by one”, in recognition of their “decisive and courageous decisions”. Qaani said their struggles are “great heroic epics” that are “carved into the rocks of dignity and steadfastness and will create legacies for humanity.”

The Quds Force commander characterized "Israel’s" history as “bloody, criminal, and anti-human, full of killing of innocent people, women, and children.” He singled out Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for seeking to demonstrate that “he is more savage and cruel-hearted than his master, the United States.”

Israeli aggression kills 250+, injures 1,150+

On Wednesday, after a two-week ceasefire that would include Iran, the United States, and their allies, including Lebanon, the Israeli occupation launched a large-scale aggression, carrying out a series of coordinated bombings that have left more than 250 people martyred and over 1,150 others wounded in Lebanon.

Approximately 150 airstrikes were carried out across Lebanon within just two hours, highlighting the scale and intensity of the attacks that targeted several regions across the country, including the capital Beirut, its southern suburbs, southern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley, and Mount Lebanon, with residential neighborhoods and civilian infrastructure bearing the brunt of the bombardment.

The Lebanese Civil Defense announced that a total of 254 people were martyred and 1,165 others were injured in Wednesday’s attacks.

Hezbollah had ceased attacks on Israeli positions since the ceasefire was announced; however, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that Lebanon would not be included in the ceasefire, despite it being explicitly named in the initial announcement made by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who mediated talks between Tehran and Washington. 

Iran said that a ceasefire in Lebanon was among its core demands to agree to the limited truce, promising to respond to the blatant violation.

Iran War Has Exposed the Weakness of the Dollar

As Opec members have long understood, it is not a good idea to give users of your product an incentive to find alternatives

Daniel Davies

The writer is a managing director at Frontline Analysts and author of ‘The Unaccountability Machine’

There is an old central banker maxim that seems widely applicable to today’s geopolitical situation. As recounted in David Kynaston’s history of the Bank of England, it runs: “Wave the big stick if you like, but never use it; it may break in your hand. Better still, try wagging your finger.”

Among the many consequences of the stand-off in the Strait of Hormuz, it seems that we may look back on this as the week in which one of America’s most powerful geopolitical tools was shown to be a weakened stick. Threatening to limit access to the global dollar system now seems less fearsome.

We saw the first indications that this was the case back in 2022, when Russian banks were sanctioned and disconnected from the Swift messaging system for global bank payments. Even at the time, it was understood that this was likely to be more of an inconvenience than an economic death sentence, but the extent to which Russia has continued to be able to wage war and to sell oil to fund itself must have disappointed supporters of the sanctions.

The ineffectiveness of the weaponised dollar in the Gulf has also been telling. Iran is one of the most sanctioned places in the world; it is one of a handful of cases where US Treasury sanctions cover an entire country rather than specific entities and people. But not only does this not appear to have prevented it from selling oil while at war with the US, it has not seemed to stop it from charging ransom fees to international shipping seeking to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. 

Some ships have paid as much as $2mn to Iran to ensure safe passage, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence. And following news of a ceasefire between the US and Iran, an Iranian official has indicated his country will demand that shipping companies pay tolls in cryptocurrency for oil tankers equivalent to $1 per barrel of oil transported.

Part of the problem is that being cut off from the dominant global payments system is only a threat because the dollar economy is so convenient and profitable to deal in. That means that the weapon is most effective against open economies that are integrated into global supply chains. But these are rarely the ones worth threatening. 

Sanctioned states, on the other hand, tend to get used to making do and mending, and finding people who are prepared to deal with them. Iran is able to sell at least some of its oil in return for renminbi largely because most of its imports come from China. There is also a network of banks and shadow financial companies, according to research by the Atlantic Council, which are prepared to take the risk of US extraterritorial enforcement, and to launder payments in dollars. Such counterparties are less worried about their access to New York dollar clearing.

But these workarounds may be barely necessary in a world in which it is possible for anonymous money to be sent over the internet. The US does not control the flow of payments made in bitcoin or stablecoins — cryptocurrencies pegged to real-world assets such as the dollar — transmitted over decentralised networks. While the intrusive compliance of US money laundering rules continues to cause inconvenience for US allies, countries at odds with America have an entirely separate and barely regulated parallel crypto-dollar to use, just like criminals and other bad actors.

As Gulf states of all kinds have understood since the founding of Opec, it is not a good idea to give the users of your product an incentive to find alternatives. 

This was all very predictable. In fact, Henry Farrell, one of the political scientists who coined the phrase “weaponised interdependence”, predicted it in a paper earlier this year that I co-authored. Having been a source of global stability for so long, the dollar system has evolved to be a source of instability as it has become more weaponised. As we stated: “As the US ratchets up pressure, other countries will look to escape dollar power, likely provoking the US to double down in response”.

This is not without impact as the isolation of North Korea from the mainstream global financial system has shown. And as our paper noted, targeted sanctions on individuals appear to have been more effective than general sanctions on countries. “Bad actors” shunned from the dollar banking system still have to turn to inferior alternatives like crypto payments technologies.

But far from being a geopolitical weapon for the US, global finance is arguably a force multiplier for its enemies. As Kynaston’s central bankers knew, it is much better to threaten dire consequences than to put yourself in a situation where you have to actually use the big stick. It may break.

Hundreds March in Senegal’s Capital Over Broken Government Promises and Inflation

By MARK BANCHEREAU and BABACAR DIONE

7:20 PM EDT, April 8, 2026

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Hundreds of workers, union members and opposition supporters marched in Senegal’s capital Dakar on Wednesday to protest what they say are broken government promises and a worsening cost-of-living, as the country is plagued by a severe debt crisis.

The protest was organized by the country’s main labor unions and the Front for the Defense of Democracy and the Republic, also known as FDR, opposition coalition.

Mody Guiro, secretary-general of the National Confederation of Senegalese Workers, the country’s largest labor union, said the government had betrayed a deal last year that had frozen strikes in exchange for promises of better wages and working conditions. Authorities say a record debt crisis inherited from the previous administration has left the government with little money to spend.

Protesters wearing red scarfs and union hats held signs demanding that the government rehires laid off public sector workers and lowers income taxes. Some chanted slogans calling for the ousting of Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko.

The West African country’s government, led by Sonko and President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, came to power in April 2024, promising to carry out ambitious reforms, which included fighting corruption, creating jobs for young people and maximizing the country’s natural resource benefits.

But the ruling PASTEF party’s reform agenda has run into obstacles. A 2025 government audit revealed a larger-than-reported debt of $13 billion attributed to the previous administration. Talks with the International Monetary Fund over a new financial program have stalled as the nation’s fiscal outlook worsens.

Senegal’s debt-to-GDP ratio has surged to roughly 132%, one of the highest in Africa.

The country’s economic difficulties have deepened the daily struggles of many people, with young Senegalese among the hardest hit. About 75% of the country’s population is under 35.

Last February, protests at Senegal’s top public university over unpaid financial aid were met with a violent response by security forces, leading to the death of a student.

“The country is at a standstill. It is essential that the government finds solutions to revive Senegal’s economy instead of picking fights everywhere,” said Mohamed Fall, a youth activist at the protest on Wednesday.

Another protester, Pape Laobe Samb, is one of more than 700 employees of the port of Dakar that have been laid off since early 2025, as the Senegalese government moves to overhaul state institutions.

“This is not what they promised people. They said they were going to create jobs and develop the country but they did the complete opposite,” Samb, who worked more than 12 years at the port before being let go, told The Associated Press.

The port’s director, who was appointed shortly after President Faye came to power, has described the action as a purge of irregular contracts inherited from the previous administration. Unions disagree, arguing the workers targeted were largely those associated with the previous government, and that the firings were unlawful.