We Do Not Accept Negotiations Under the Shadow of Threats: Ghalibaf

By Al Mayadeen English

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf accuses the US of using negotiations to impose surrender terms or justify renewed aggression, as ceasefire uncertainty grows.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned that the United States is attempting to exploit ongoing diplomatic efforts to impose its conditions or pave the way for renewed aggression on Iran.

He stressed that Tehran rejects negotiations conducted under threats, affirming that the country has used the ceasefire period to prepare for potential escalation and has prepared new cards to reveal on the battlefield.

In a post on the X platform, Ghalibaf said that US President Donald Trump is seeking to manipulate the negotiation process.

“By imposing the blockade and violating the ceasefire, Trump is seeking to turn the negotiating table into a table of surrender or to justify the renewal of hostilities, as he sees fit,” he stated.

In an interview with Iranian state television, Ghalibaf called Trump a "a master of lies".

Iran won't participate in 'US theatre' as long as key obstacles remain

Ghalibaf's comments come while the United States has sent a delegation to Pakistan for potential negotiations. However, Iran has not yet made a final decision on participation and is still reviewing the possibility of joining talks, Tasnim news agency reported, citing sources and regional officials.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump announced that a high-level delegation led by JD Vance is heading to Pakistan for ceasefire talks with Iran.

Iranian sources emphasized that any participation in negotiations is conditional on the fulfilment of several preconditions, among them the US maritime blockade on Iran, which Tehran emphasized poses a central obstacle in the diplomatic process.

The matter has reportedly been conveyed through Pakistan, which is acting as a mediator, and Islamabad has, in turn, raised the issue in contacts with US officials.

Iranian officials also argue that additional US demands outlined in recent exchanges have further complicated prospects for progress, leaving an unclear path toward any agreement.

US blockade on Iran could see changes

Al Mayadeen’s correspondent in Islamabad reported on Monday that a US aircraft carrying a large delegation has landed in Islamabad, where talks are set to take place under regional mediation efforts.

The arrival of a US delegation in Pakistan indicates that President Donald Trump may be preparing to announce a specific initiative related to the blockade of Iranian ports, according to our correspondent.

However, he noted that, so far, the talks remain unilateral, with no confirmed direct engagement between the United States and Iran.

Pakistan Halts $1.5bln Sudan Arms Deal Following Saudi Request

By Al Mayadeen English

Source: Reuters

20 Apr 2026 21:44

Saudi Arabia has signaled to Islamabad the need to cancel the deal after abandoning plans to finance it.

Pakistan has canceled a $1.5 billion agreement to supply weapons and warplanes to Sudan after Saudi Arabia requested the deal be terminated and withdrew its financial backing, Reuters reported on Monday, citing security sources.

According to the report, the deal was among several under negotiation by the Pakistani military after its jets and weapons systems overperformed in a brief war with India last May.

One security source told Reuters that Saudi Arabia had signaled to Islamabad the need to cancel the deal after abandoning plans to finance it.

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan maintain close strategic ties, with Islamabad historically providing military support, including weapons and troop deployments, in exchange for financial assistance from Riyadh.

The two countries further strengthened their relationship last year by signing a mutual defense pact, stipulating that an attack on either nation would be treated as an attack on both.

The deal at hand

The $1.5 billion arms agreement between Pakistan and Sudan was first reported to be in its final stages on January 9, 2026, according to Reuters. The deal had not yet been formally announced but was nearing completion following months of negotiations.

The agreement was brokered with facilitation from Saudi Arabia, which played a key role in advancing discussions between Islamabad and Khartoum. While Riyadh’s exact financial commitment was not publicly confirmed at the time, it was widely viewed as a central backer of the arrangement.

Under the proposed deal, Pakistan was set to supply a range of military equipment to Sudan, including aircraft, drones, and other weapons systems. The package reportedly included Karakoram-8 light attack jets, Super Mushshak training aircraft, and potentially JF-17 fighter jets.

The agreement also involved the delivery of more than 200 drones and additional air defense capabilities, aimed at strengthening Sudan’s military capacity amid its ongoing internal conflict. These systems were expected to significantly enhance surveillance and combat operations.

Sudan Army Says it Recaptures Blue Nile Town From RSF-rebel Alliance

20 April 2026

Sudanese army officers and soldiers celebrate the recapture of Mogja, Blue Nile region, on April 20, 2026

April 20, 2026 (ED DAMAZIN) – Sudan’s army said on Monday it had recaptured a town in the Blue Nile region following heavy fighting against a coalition of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu.

The RSF and its allies launched a major military offensive in the southeastern region in March, seizing the strategic town of Kurmuk and several surrounding areas.

Joint forces of the SPLM-N and the RSF had previously taken control of the Mogja areaةon March 26, saying it paves the way towards Ed Damazin.

The army’s 4th Infantry Division said in a statement that its forces achieved a “significant victory” by liberating Mogja. The military reported that the retreating forces suffered heavy losses in lives and equipment.

The military command stated the operation was part of a broader campaign to secure the region and clear it of RSF elements.

The Sudanese government has accused neighbouring Ethiopia of destabilizing the Blue Nile by hosting RSF camps funded by the United Arab Emirates. Both Ethiopia and the UAE have previously denied allegations of involvement in the conflict.

Over 550,000 Sudanese Refugees Flee to Libya Since Conflict Began, UN Says

20 April 2026

Sudanese refugees in Libya receive essential medical care from the International Medical Corps in Kufra, on July 14, 2025

April 20, 2026 (TRIPOLI) – More than 550,000 Sudanese refugees are estimated to have entered Libya since the conflict erupted in April 2023, according to a report from the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR).

The agency reported that approximately 559,920 individuals have arrived in the North African nation. Among these, 74,934 were registered following the start of the war, bringing the total number of Sudanese registered at the UNHCR centre in Tripoli to 91,494.

Heightened border monitoring by Libyan authorities has forced many refugees to seek longer, more perilous routes. Daily arrivals via Chad have slowed to an average of 70 people.

The UNHCR noted that providing an exact figure remains difficult due to the irregular nature of entries and the vast, remote borders Libya shares with Sudan, Chad, and Egypt. Many refugees quickly move toward coastal cities after crossing.

Displaced Sudanese face severe obstacles in accessing public healthcare. Lack of official documentation and the inability to pay fees—often charged at foreign rates—have left many without medical support.

The report highlighted that instability and the constant threat of homelessness have caused widespread psychological distress among the refugee population.

Search-and-rescue operations at sea remain frequent, with 18 recorded across Libya in March. Ten of these occurred in the east, while eight took place in the west.

Security campaigns in eastern Libya have intensified, increasing the risk of arbitrary detention and forced return to Sudan. The agency warned that women, children, and persons with disabilities are at heightened risk of exploitation and gender-based violence.

A Top Paramilitary Commander Defects to Sudan’s Military as War Enters 4th Year

A minibus drives past an empty checkpoint where a mannequin dressed as a soldier stands in downtown Khartoum, Sunday, April 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

By SAMY MAGDY

11:24 AM EDT, April 20, 2026

CAIRO (AP) — A high-profile paramilitary commander in Sudan has changed sides and joined the country’s army in a move welcomed by army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan shortly after the war entered its fourth year.

Burhan on Sunday welcomed Maj. Gen. al-Nour Ahmed Adam, who defected earlier this month from the Rapid Support Forces. The ruling sovereign council posted a video on social media showing Burhan’s meeting with Adam, who is known as al-Qubba, in Sudan’s Northern province on the border with Egypt.

“Doors are open to all those who lay down arms and join the path of national reconstruction,” Burhan, who chairs the sovereign council, said in a statement.

The RSF didn’t comment on the defection.

Adam fled the RSF-controlled Darfur region earlier this month and joined the military along with dozens of fighters and equipment, according to local media.

The Sudan Tribune news outlet reported that Adam left after “disputes” with the RSF leadership, mainly over not appointing him as a military commander of North Darfur province after the RSF seized control of el-Fasher city in October – the military’s last stronghold in the Darfur region.

Adam is one of the most senior officers to defect from the paramilitaries during the war. In 2024, Abu Aqla Kaikel, who led the Sudan Shield Forces, left the RSF when the military retook the crucial central province of Gezira.

The war broke out in April 2023 when a power struggle between the military and RSF exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere in the sprawling country.

The war has killed at least 59,000 people, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, known as ACLED. The U.S.-based war tracking group said its toll was almost certainly low given difficulties in reporting.

Did Pope Leo Find His Voice in Africa? Or Did the World Finally Hear Him?

By NICOLE WINFIELD

10:11 AM EDT, April 20, 2026

LUANDA, Angola (AP) — And in Africa, the lion roared.

There is a case to be made that Pope Leo XIV, the careful, reserved, Midwestern Augustinian, found his voice on his epic trip through Africa, blasting the “handful of tyrants” and “chains of corruption” that have held parts of the continent hostage for centuries.

But the fact is, Leo has been preaching this kind of message for a while now, including in the context of the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran. It just took U.S. President Donald Trump’s unprecedented broadside and Vice President JD Vance’s claims of theological superiority for many people to pay attention, especially American Catholics.

“Yes, Pope Leo might give the impression that he is engaging, in his quiet way and with authority, and this is how it looks to the world press and social media,” Cardinal Michael Czerny, a top Vatican official and aide to Leo, told The Associated Press.

“But in fact the Holy Father’s homilies and talks in Africa have been prepared, well in advance, in terms of the local African reality and the church,” Czerny said. “So, if they seem relevant to the current wars, controversy, this reminds us of Jesus saying, ‘Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear!’”

Leo tried to make that point when he came to the back of Air Pope One on April 18, en route from Cameroon to Angola, and complained that “a certain narrative” had taken hold suggesting he was in a feud with Trump over the Iran war and his peace messages in Africa were directed at the president.

Leo insisted his words about tyrants and the religious justification for war had been wrongly interpreted and he was referring only to the African context, and to a separatist conflict in western Cameroon, in particular.

The thin line of the pope’s explanation

But Leo also was trying to have it both ways. Yes, he was talking about the separatist conflict at a peace meeting in Bamenda. Yes, he was preaching the Gospel message of peace and fraternity. But he also has been talking about Trump, a lot.

“That distancing of Pope Leo from some interpretations was really a move to de-escalate a very dangerous situation,” said Massimo Faggioli, a professor of theology at Trinity College Dublin. “Because the Vatican needs the United States to restore some kind of peaceful — not order — but a horizon of peace, a hope of peace.”

Leo criticized Trump, directly, before he got to Africa. And in one remarkable comment two weeks ago, he encouraged the faithful to contact their congressional representatives to demand an end to the war.

The headline from the April 7 encounter outside Leo’s country house in Castel Gandolfo was that Leo had called Trump’s threat to annihilate Iranian civilization “truly unacceptable.”

But the more significant message followed. “I would invite the citizens of all the countries involved to contact the authorities, political leaders, congressmen, to ask them, tell them to work for peace and to reject war,” Leo said.

Faggioli termed the comment “the Vatican’s nuclear option,” making a direct appeal to U.S. voters to take a stand, because it genuinely feared Trump was about to take the Iran war in a vastly more catastrophic direction.

What came before Leo’s unprecedented appeal

The Holy See had never resorted to such a directly political message from a pope even at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, when a Catholic president — John F. Kennedy — was on the verge of a nuclear confrontation with the Soviet Union, Faggioli said.

At that moment, Pope John XXIII did make a public appeal — his famous Oct. 25, 1962, radio address — with a strong, direct plea for peace including to “those who have the responsibility of power” to “do everything in their power to save the peace.”

The pope also sent private letters to Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and worked behind the scenes through diplomatic channels to de-escalate the situation. But he didn’t urge U.S. voters to essentially choose which Catholic to listen to: their president or their pope.

“What is at stake now is that at a time of war, loyalties of Catholics are tested in a particular way,” Faggioli said. He added that however the situation ultimately resolves itself, the tension will complicate any future political aspirations of Catholics seeking high office, whether Vance on the Republican side or California Gov. Gavin Newsom on the Democratic side, as long as a U.S.-born pope is still in Rome.

Kathleen Sprows Cummings, director of the Global Catholic Research Initiative at the University of Notre Dame, said Leo has consistently operated “on a higher plane” but American Catholics are used to church discussion of morality in the context of sexuality, gender and abortion, and it’s jarring to process foreign policy through a moral lens.

“So JD Vance can say the pope should stick to morality,” she said, “but war and peace are ancient moral issues.”

The Rev. Antonio Spadaro, the under-secretary in the Vatican’s culture department, said Leo is continuing in the tradition of popes past to preach the Gospel message of peace. What has changed, he said, was how Trump reacted.

“The strong reaction arrived from America,” he said. “It was America that reacted to Leo’s words, and not vice versa.”

Even with his direct comments about Trump, Leo was not engaging in an attack, Spadaro said.

“It’s very dangerous to imagine that the pope is fighting with Trump, because it means demeaning the pope to a level of contrast, one against the other, which Trump may want but that the pope has no intention of doing,” he said.

New role, same Leo, Vatican official says

Spadaro added that from his perch, Leo hasn’t changed at all from when he was known as Robert Prevost, the Chicago-born missionary priest.

“I see the Prevost I’ve always seen,” Spadaro said. “Let’s say it’s the backdrop that has changed, so his calm yet very direct style stands in stark contrast to a chaotic scenario, and that’s why it’s striking.”

For better or worse, the incredible saga of Trump, the war and geopolitics seems far removed from Leo’s day-to-day ministering to his flock in Africa, who have turned out in droves to welcome the American pope in each stop on his four-nation tour.

The polyglot pope has made it easy for them to hear his words, delivering speeches, homilies and prayers in the languages of the faithful: French in Algeria, English and French in Cameroon, Portuguese in Angola and, starting Tuesday, Spanish in Equatorial Guinea.

Lucineia Francisco left her family behind on Sunday so she could see Leo at the Shrine of Mama Muxima, Angola’s most popular pilgrimage destination. Some 30,000 people turned out for Leo’s rosary prayer.

“My kids were crying to come, but I said no,” Francisco said. “This is a spiritual journey that I’m really going to face on my own.”

Pope Prays at Catholic Shrine in Angola That Was a Center of African Slave Trade

By NICOLE WINFIELD

10:38 PM EDT, April 19, 2026

MUXIMA, Angola (AP) — Pope Leo XIV on Sunday recalled the “sorrow and great suffering” Angolans endured for centuries, as the American pope prayed at a Catholic shrine located at the site of an important hub of the African slave trade during Portugal’s colonial rule.

Leo traveled to the Sanctuary of Mama Muxima, nestled in the Angolan savanas of baobab trees at the edge of the Kwanza River. It became a major pilgrimage destination after believers reported an appearance by the Virgin Mary around 1833.

But the Church of Our Lady of Muxima was originally built by Portuguese colonizers at the end of the 16th century as part of a fortress complex and it became a hub in the slave trade. It was where enslaved Africans were gathered to be baptized by Portuguese priests before being forced to walk to the port of Luanda, over 110 kilometers (70 miles) to the north, to be put on ships to the Americas.

Leo, whose own ancestors include enslaved people and slave owners, prayed the Rosary at the sanctuary, a simple whitewashed church with blue trim and a statue of the Madonna inside. Speaking in Portuguese, he recalled it was here “where, for centuries, many men and women have prayed in times of joy and also in moments of sorrow and great suffering in the history of this country.”

He didn’t refer specifically to slavery. After viewing plans to build a basilica at the site, Leo urged the estimated 30,000 people gathered outside to also build “a better, more welcoming world, where there are no more wars, no injustices, no poverty, no dishonesty.”

Muxima’s history is emblematic of the Catholic Church’s role in the slave trade, the forced baptisms of enslaved people and what some scholars say is the Holy See’s continued refusal to fully acknowledge it and atone for it.

“For Black Catholics, Pope Leo’s visit to the Muxima shrine is an important moment of healing,” said Anthea Butler, senior fellow at the Koch Center, Oxford University.

She noted that many Black Catholics are Catholic because of slavery and the “Code Noir,” which she said required slaves purchased by Catholic owners to be baptized in the church.

“Others were already Catholic when they were trafficked from Angola to slave-holding colonies,” said Butler, a Black Catholic scholar whose maternal family hails from Louisiana, where the pope’s ancestors also had their roots.

The role of papal bulls in the slave trade

Angola’s Portuguese colonizers were emboldened by 15th-century directives from the Vatican that authorized them to enslave non-Christians.

In 1452, for example, Pope Nicholas V issued the papal bull Dum Diversas, which gave the Portuguese king and his successors the right “to invade, conquer, fight and subjugate” and take all possessions — including land — of “Saracens, and pagans, and other infidels, and enemies of the name of Christ” anywhere, said the Rev. Christopher J. Kellerman, a Jesuit priest and author of “All Oppression Shall Cease: A History of Slavery, Abolitionism, and the Catholic Church.”

The bull also gave the Portuguese permission “to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery.”

That bull and another issued three years later, Romanus Pontifex, formed the basis of the Doctrine of Discovery, the theory that legitimized the colonial-era seizure of land in Africa and the Americas.

The Vatican in 2023 formally repudiated the Doctrine of Discovery, but it never formally rescinded, abrogated or rejected the bulls themselves. The Vatican insists that a later bull, Sublimis Deus in 1537, reaffirmed that Indigenous peoples shouldn’t be deprived of their liberty or the possession of their property, and were not to be enslaved.

Ultimately, more than 5 million people left from Angola on the trans-Atlantic slave route, more than any other country and nearly half of the roughly 12.5 million African slaves sent across the ocean.

Kellerman recalled that most of these direct victims were sold into slavery by other Africans and were not captured by Europeans.

“That being said, at the time of the building of Muxima, the Portuguese were doing both — buying enslaved people and colonizing/slave raiding. So they were fully using their papal permissions during this time,” Kellerman said in emailed comments to The Associated Press.

He said the first pope to condemn slavery itself was Pope Leo XIII, the current pope’s namesake, in two encyclicals in 1888 and 1890, after most countries had already abolished slavery. But Kellerman said that pope and others since have continued to perpetuate the “false narrative” that the Holy See always opposed slavery, when the historical record says otherwise.

While Leo’s visit to Muxima was to commemorate its role as a shrine, Kellerman said he hoped Leo had also learned about its role in the slave trade.

“The popes repeatedly authorized Portugal’s colonization efforts in Africa and Portuguese participation in the slave trade, but the Vatican has never fully admitted this,” he said. “It would be so powerful if at some point Pope Leo were to apologize for the popes’ role in the trade.”

During a 1985 visit to Cameroon, St. John Paul II asked forgiveness of Africans for the slave trade on behalf of Christians who participated in it, but not for the popes’ own role in it. In a 1992 visit to Goree Island, Senegal, the largest slave-trading center in West Africa, he denounced the injustice of slavery and called it a “tragedy of a civilization that called itself Christian.”

Leo’s own personal history a point of reflection

According to genealogical research published by Henry Louis Gates Jr., 17 of Leo’s American ancestors were Black, listed in census records as mulatto, Black, Creole or a free person of color. His family tree includes slaveholders and enslaved people, Gates wrote in the New York Times.

Gates, a Harvard University professor who hosts the PBS documentary series “Finding Your Roots,” presented his research to Leo during a July 5 audience at the Vatican. According to a report of their meeting in The Harvard Gazette, “The pope asked about ancestors, both Black and white, who were enslavers.”

Leo has not spoken publicly about his family heritage or the genealogical research, and some Black Catholic scholars were hesitant to impose on him a narrative about his identity that he himself has not yet addressed.

“It’s important that we tell our own stories,” said Tia Noelle Pratt, a sociologist of religion and professor at Villanova University, the pope’s alma mater.

“We haven’t heard anything from him about what he thinks about it, and so to impose anything on him, I think would be completely inappropriate,” said Pratt, author of “Faithful and Devoted: Racism and Identity in the African American Catholic Experience.”

Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the retired archbishop of Washington and the first African American cardinal, said he had facilitated the Gates-Leo encounter and was “delighted” to have done so.

“It’s one of the things that I think for many African Americans and people of color, they identify with great pride that the pope has roots in our own heritage,” Gregory told AP. “And I think he’s happy about that too, because it’s another link to the people that he tries to serve and is called to serve.”

___

Gerald Imray contributed from Cape Town, South Africa.

Pope Leo XIV Says ‘Not in My Interest At All’ to Debate Trump But Will Keep Preaching Peace

By NICOLE WINFIELD

11:40 AM EDT, April 18, 2026

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Leo XIV said Saturday that it was “not in my interest at all” to debate U.S. President Donald Trump about the Iran war, but that he would continue preaching the Gospel message of peace.

Leo spoke to reporters aboard the papal plane flying from Cameroon to Angola as part of his 11-day tour of Africa.

He addressed the spiraling back-and-forth saga of Trump’s critiques of his peace message, which have dominated news headlines this week. But the American pope also sought to set the record straight, insisting that his preaching isn’t directed at Trump, but reflects the broader Gospel message of peace.

“There’s been a certain narrative that has not been accurate in all of its aspects, but because of the political situation created when, on the first day of the trip, the president of the United States made some comments about myself,” he said.

“Much of what has been written since then has been more commentary on commentary, trying to interpret what has been said.”

Trump launched the criticism on his social media platform Truth Social on the night of April 12, when he criticized Leo’s preaching about peace as the war, which began with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Feb. 28 and was followed by Iran’s retaliation, raged on. Trump accused Leo of being soft on crime, cozy with the left and said that the first American pontiff owed his election to Trump.

Leo has issued consistent calls for peace and dialogue, and has denounced the use of religious justification for war. Specifically, he called Trump’s threat to annihilate Iranian civilization “truly unacceptable.”

The Vatican has stressed that when Leo preaches about peace, he is referring to all wars ravaging the planet, not just the Iran conflict. The Russian Orthodox Church, for example, has justified Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine as a “holy war.”

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Leo referred specifically to his remarks earlier this week to a peace meeting in Bamenda, Cameroon. The city is the epicenter of a separatist conflict that has been raging in the western, Anglophone region of the country for nearly a decade.

Leo said that his remarks, in which he blasted the “handful of tyrants” who were ravaging Earth with war and exploitation, were written two weeks ago, long before Trump’s criticisms began.

“And yet as it happens, it was looked at as if I was trying to debate again the president, which is not in my interest at all,” he said.

Looking ahead, however, he said that he would continue preaching the Gospel.

“I primarily come to Africa as a pastor, as the head of the Catholic Church to be with, to celebrate with, to encourage and accompany all the Catholics throughout Africa,” he said.

He drew attention to some upcoming liturgical readings about what it means to be Christian and to follow Christ, promote fraternity and brotherhood, “but also looking for ways to promote justice in our world, promote peace in our world,” he said.

Leo arrived later Saturday in Angola, the third stop on his four-nation tour. A message of peace would be especially relevant for the southern African country, which was ravaged by a 27-year civil war that ended in 2002 but has left deep scars.

Leo will meet with Angolan President Joao Lourenco and deliver his first speech before government authorities, when he hopes to bring joy and encouragement to Angola’s long-suffering people.

Abayomi Azikiwe, PANW Editor, Featured on 1+1 with Youri Smouter, Discussing the History and Current Affairs of Mozambique

Hello everyone. Welcome to another edition of 1+1, your place for inconvenient truth telling and myth busting. 

To watch this interview in its entirety just click on the following URL: 1+1 E383 Youri speaks to Abayomi Azikiwe of Pan-African Newswire & Black Agenda Report on Mozambique

This is another one of our all-things Africa editions. We continue to explore the history and current affairs of each African country.  This week we explore Southern Africa. We review the history and current affairs of Mozambique.  And who better to teach us about this country or any African country than our historical and tour guide Abayomi Azikiwe of Pan-African News Wire. Abayomi Azikiwe is a long-time historian, journalist, and Pan-Africanist Left-wing activist.

Despite Temporary “Ceasefire” Aggression Continues Against Iran, Lebanon and Palestine

A two-week cessation of hostilities has not ended the military threats and actions which are targeting civilians and infrastructure as journalists are killed in Gaza and neighborhoods leveled in Lebanon

By Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor, Pan-African News Wire

Wednesday April 15, 2026

Geostrategic Analysis

Talks held between the Lebanese government and the State of Israel in Washington, D.C. on April 14 did not reach any agreement to end the assault by Tel Aviv against the people of Beirut and other areas in the south and other areas of the country of 6 million people.

After a ceasefire was announced one week earlier when United States President Donald Trump accepted the ten-point plan for discussions put forward by the Islamic Republic of Iran which led to talks in Pakistan the following weekend, the administration in Washington later denied that Lebanon was included in the temporary ceasefire which was contrary to what Tehran and Pakistan had noted. 

The Israeli occupation forces then unleashed the heaviest bombardment against Lebanon in the recent phase of the war. It was reported that more than 300 people were killed on April 8. Residential areas were hit hard under the guise that these neighborhoods were strongholds of the Hezbollah resistance movement.

Hezbollah has been the only armed forces which are defending the country against the Israeli military. Several attempts to break through the Hezbollah defenses in the South have been met with fierce resistance. 

Over the last six weeks, Hezbollah has resumed its firing of missiles into the northern occupied territories of Palestine. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government have imposed strict censorship over the actual damage being done to the apartheid state by Hezbollah and the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps of Iran (IRGC). Hezbollah and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) had reached a ceasefire agreement through mediation by France in November 2024. 

Nonetheless, there had been hundreds of violations of the agreement on the part of the Israeli occupation forces. The Lebanese government has been unwilling to confront the Israelis and therefore participated in the talks at the State Department on April 14. 

Yet, Hezbollah has rejected the political direction of the Lebanese government.  Although Hezbollah is part of that government, it does not have control over the foreign policy of the state under the sectarian structures which characterizes Lebanon. 

In a report published by Al Mayadeen on April 15, it emphasized:

“The southern city of Bint Jbeil continues to demonstrate ‘rare resilience’ in the face of intense Israeli fire, as Resistance fighters remain steadfast on the battlefield, Lebanese Member of Parliament Hassan Fadlallah affirmed on Wednesday. Speaking during a press conference at the Lebanese Parliament, Fadlallah emphasized that the Resistance ‘does not recognize withdrawal’, noting that fighters continue to launch attacks against Israeli occupation forces from and around the city, while the Israeli military struggles to establish a foothold in frontline villages. He added that the Israeli occupation is seeking to manufacture a ‘false image of victory’ in Bint Jbeil to counter deeply rooted perception of its fragility, invoking the notion of the entity as a ‘spider’s web’. According to Fadlallah, Resistance drones and missile operations continue to inflict significant losses on Israeli forces.” (https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/hezbollah-mp--resistance-rejects-us-backed-political-course)

This fierce resistance has mirrored the developments in Iran. Hezbollah and the Islamic Republic of Iran have maintained close relations for decades.

Since February 28, the level of resistance and retaliation against Washington and Tel Aviv has been astonishing to the international community. The Trump administration has announced on numerous occasions from the beginning of the attacks on Tehran which killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei and other high-ranking officials, that the war had been won already by the U.S. and Israel.

Yet, thousands of troops have been deployed to the Persian Gulf. The White House has upheld the illegal bombing of Lebanon and the blatant violation of the ceasefire of November 2024.

Iran Threatens to Retaliate for U.S. Attempted Blockade of Its Ports

A high-level delegation from Pakistan visited the Islamic Republic of Iran on April 15 bringing a message from the Trump administration related to their terms for another round of talks in Islamabad. The potential for additional talks would involve technical issues involving the situation near the Strait of Hormuz which Iran is controlling.

The Trump administration announced on April 13 that it was imposing its own blockade over the Strait of Hormuz to pressure Iran to accept its ever changing views on the war and its purpose. Although Trump has claimed that Washington is controlling entry and exit from the Strait, tracking data indicate that some vessels are able to pass through the waterway. 

An article published by Press TV on April 15 said of the current situation in the region that:

“Iran's top military commander, Major General Ali Abdollahi, has issued a stern warning to the United States, stating that any attempt to block maritime trade in the Persian Gulf or Sea of Oman would be met with decisive action. In remarks made on Wednesday, General Abdollahi, the commander of Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, emphasized that if the US continues its illegal maritime blockade and creates insecurity for Iranian commercial vessels and oil tankers, it would be a violation of the ceasefire agreement. He added that Iran's military forces would not allow any exports or imports to take place in the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman, or the Red Sea.” (https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2026/04/15/766923/Iran-s-top-general-warns-US-over-illegal-naval-blockage-in-Persian-Gulf-)

These comments reveal the potential for even more economic distress on a world scale. Since the beginning of the Israel-US attacks on Iran, fuel prices have skyrocketed. The price of fuel and the increasing scarcity of availability of petroleum and natural gas portend much for the well-being of the peoples of the industrialized capitalist states as well as the Global South.

Iran through its True Promise 4 military campaign launched thousands of drones and missiles at the apartheid state occupying Palestine. In addition, the Persian Gulf Arab Monarchies who allow their territories to serve as bases for Pentagon military forces were hit with thousands more drones and missiles causing tremendous physical and economic damages. 

As a direct result of the US-Israeli initiated war on Iran and Lebanon, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is suggesting that a world recession could take place within a few months. These remarks are not taking into consideration the already devastating impact of the Trump tariffs policy which has caused confusion and the closure of small and medium sized enterprises. 

In countries such as Kenya, Egypt, Malawi, Somalia, the Philippines, and many other geopolitical regions throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America, the problems associated with the war are causing shortages of fuel, natural gas, fertilizer and many other essential goods. Even within the industrialized capitalist states of Europe and North America, the actual prices for goods and services particularly related to food, housing and energy are rising at an alarming rate. 

The above-mentioned Iranian General was quoted as saying: 

"Should the aggressive and terrorist United States continue its illegal action of naval blockade in the region and creates insecurity for Iranian commercial ships and oil tankers, this action by the US will be the precursor to violating the ceasefire, and the powerful Iranian armed forces will not allow any exports or imports to continue in the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman, and the Red Sea. Iran will take strong measures to defend its national sovereignty and interests.” 

Therefore, the White House has set the stage for an even worse economic crisis internationally. This unfolding quagmire will be met with more militant resistance against the fascism of the Trump administration and the expanding war machine of the Pentagon.

Palestinians Still Being Dislocated and Killed

Since the beginning of the Israeli-US war against Iran, the events inside Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem have been overshadowed in the western corporate media. Nonetheless, the publications coming out of the region which support the resistance have reported extensively on events in Gaza.

In the West Bank more illegal settlements are being approved by the Zionist state. This further encroachment against the Palestinian people is being carried out through violence perpetrated by settler gangs and the security forces.

Several targeted assassinations of journalists have taken place in Gaza and Lebanon. The overall number of journalists killed in Gaza is estimated to be more than 200 since October 2023.

The Committee to Protect Journalists pointed out on April 8:

“Israel carried out deadly strikes in both Gaza and Lebanon on Wednesday, killing journalists Mohammed Samir Washah, Ghada Dayekh, and Suzan Khalil in a sharp escalation of attacks on the press. Washah, a correspondent for Qatari-based Al Jazeera Mubasher, was killed when his car was targeted by an Israeli drone attack in Gaza City. In Lebanon, separate Israeli strikes killed Dayekh, a presenter with Sawt Al-Farah, and Khalil, a reporter and presenter on Al-Manar TV and Al-Nour Radio. These killings come amid intensified Israeli bombardment across Lebanon, hours after a ceasefire between Iran, Israel, and the United States, including more than 100 strikes launched within minutes despite ceasefire announcements.” (https://cpj.org/2026/04/israel-kills-3-journalists-in-gaza-and-lebanon-in-one-day-cpj-calls-for-international-action/)

These developments in Palestine, Lebanon, Iran and the entire Persian Gulf are interconnected. Until the U.S. withdraws its military presence and support for the settler-colonial state there can be no peace in West Asia. 

US Commits Maritime Piracy, Attacks Iranian Commercial Ship in Violation of Ceasefire

Sunday, 19 April 2026 10:49 PM

This still image from a video shows the US Navy carrying out a flagrant act of aggression on an Iranian merchant vessel in the waters of the Sea of Oman on Sunday.

The United States has carried out a flagrant act of aggression on an Iranian merchant vessel in the waters of the Sea of Oman, deploying its terrorist marines onto the ship’s deck and disabling its navigation systems.

The spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters on Sunday night condemned the criminal operation by the US Navy.

“The aggressor United States violated the ceasefire and committed maritime piracy by firing at an Iranian merchant ship in the waters of the Sea of Oman and landing a number of its terrorist marines on the deck of the vessel, disabling its navigation system,” Lieutenant-Colonel Ebrahim Zolfaghari said.

“We warn that the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will soon respond to this armed piracy and retaliation by the US army,” he added.

US troops launched the unprovoked attack on the Iranian container ship Toska, which was peacefully sailing from China to Iran through the Gulf of Oman.

In immediate response, Iranian forces struck back, targeting several American military vessels in the area with drone attacks.

US President Donald Trump boasted that American forces had seized the Iranian ship, calling the US military the “largest military force in the world,” which has now been exposed once again as the chief pirate in international waters.

Iran had already stated that it would retaliate decisively against any hostile action by the United States.

At the same time as Washington announced its illegal naval blockade against Iran, the Islamic Republic has fully closed the Strait of Hormuz. Any ship or tanker attempting to pass through the strategic waterway without Iranian permission will be dealt with firmly by Iranian forces.

The latest criminal act by the US regime once again proves that Washington remains the primary source of terrorism and instability across West Asia.

Iran is fully prepared to defend its sovereignty and national interests and said it will not hesitate to deliver a crushing response to any act of aggression or maritime piracy.

Iranian armed forces have intercepted two oil tankers attempting to navigate through the Strait of Hormuz, forcing them to alter their routes and retreat from the region

On Friday, Iran had declared the Strait was open to commercial shipping, weeks after it was shut down to vessels associated with the US and its allies following the launch of an unprovoked war of aggression against the Islamic Republic on February 28.

On April 7 and following 40 days of intense fighting that engulfed the entire region, Trump announced a two-week ceasefire after accepting Iran's ten-point proposal as a basis for negotiations to permanently end the war.

He nonetheless authorized the continuation of a naval blockade he had ordered against the Islamic Republic, in addition to making numerous controversial statements regarding the waterway—all of which have been categorically refuted by Iranian authorities.

During the marathon talks in Islamabad earlier this month, the issue of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz dominated discussions, according to sources, with Iran making it emphatically clear that the waterway will be opened fully once all its conditions to end the war are accepted.

‘Myth of US Stealth Fighters Over’: Iranian Hunter of US F-35 Jet Declares

Sunday, 19 April 2026 11:10 AM

The senior Iranian officer, who downed an intruding American F-35 fighter jet, says the myth of warplanes that are designed to evade radar detection is over.

Speaking on Sunday, the officer described as “truly indescribable” the excitement of his colleagues when they hit the F-35.

“We completely destroyed a Lockheed Martin technology,” he added. “The myth of stealth fighters is over.”

He also noted that his colleagues are present on the battlefield round-the-clock, hunting down enemy targets.

Iran’s modern air defense systems can easily strike hostile flying objects, cruise missiles, and small aircraft in most cases.

The illegal US-Israeli aggression on Iran began on February  28 with airstrikes that assassinated senior Iranian officials and commanders.

Iran downed 170 US and Israeli drones during war: commander

Brigadier General Amir Alireza Elhami says the Iranian air defense forces successfully intercepted 170 enemy drones during the US-Israeli aggression against the country.

The Iranian armed forces unleashed 100 waves of successful retaliatory strikes against sensitive and strategic American and Israeli targets throughout the region.

They managed to intercept and shoot down several hostile fighter jets, missiles and drones, reflecting Iran's readiness to defend its airspace.

Some 170 enemy drones were destroyed by the country’s integrated air defense network.

On April 8, forty days into the war, a Pakistan-brokered two-week ceasefire went into effect, but Washington-Tehran negotiations failed to reach a deal.

Iran Replenishing Missile Launchers Faster Than Before War: IRGC Commander 

Sunday, 19 April 2026 4:52 PM

File photo shows an underground missile storage facility in Iran.

A top Iranian military commander says the country’s capacity to replenish missile and drone launchers during the two-week ceasefire has outpaced pre-war levels.

The commander of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (RGC) Aerospace Force, General Seyed Majid Mousavi, shared a video on social media platform UpScrolled, showing the replacement of the missile and drone launchers, on Sunday.

Accompanying the footage was a message from Mousavi, stating that Iran’s “speed in updating and reloading missile and drone launchers have surpassed even its pre-war pace.”

Mousavi said, “We are aware that the enemy is incapable of creating such conditions for themselves during the ceasefire.”

Since the ceasefire began on April 11, he said, the United States has had to “to bring in ammunition from the other side of the world in a trickle.”

“They have lost this phase of the war as well. They have lost the Strait, they have lost Lebanon, and they have lost the entire region,” said the commander.

Mousavi’s remarks come as many reports contradict claims that weeks of joint US-Israeli military aggression against Iran has significantly weakened the country’s strategic capabilities.

Citing US intelligence assessments, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported last week that Tehran’s ability to sustain its missile capability relies on a vast network of reinforced underground storage areas, which have largely shielded mobile launchers from weeks of bombing.

The report said Iran still possesses “thousands of medium- and short-range ballistic missiles that could be pulled out of hiding or retrieved from underground sites.”

General Mousavi also mentioned the Strait of Hormuz, which the IRGC declared closed again on Saturday due to US violations of a ceasefire. The IRGC reiterated that a continued naval blockade on Iranian ports amounts to piracy.

In a separate post on the social media platform, Mousavi hailed the military strategy devised by the martyred leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, which has he said paved the way for Iran’s triumph over the two-nuclear armed enemies.

The commander said it has been the late Ayatollah Khamenei’s “asymmetric warfare strategy, indigenous missile technology, and reliance on young scientists and warriors that have allowed us to stand tall against the world’s most powerful devils.”

The Iranian army said early this week that if the security of Iran’s “ports in the waters of the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea is threatened, no port in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea will be safe.”

Meanwhile, Iran’s Armed Forces, which have already shown enormous resilience in the face of 40 days of aggression, vowed to remain vigilant and ready, with fingers on the trigger, to crush any threat with an iron will.

Days after the US and Israel launched their military aggression against Iran on February 28, Tehran restricted the Strait of Hormuz to adversaries and their allies as a strategic maneuver.

The biggest-ever disruption at the Persian Gulf waterway, which is a major transit point for about 20 percent of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments, has fueled inflation and slowed the global economy, with an impact expected to last for months.

Iran Accuses US of Attacking Commercial Vessel, Vows Response

By Al Mayadeen English

Iran accused the United States on Sunday of violating the ceasefire framework and engaging in what it described as “armed piracy” against an Iranian commercial vessel in the Gulf of Oman.

The Khatam al-Anbia Central Headquarters of Iran’s armed forces has accused the United States of violating a ceasefire agreement and carrying out maritime piracy after an incident involving an Iranian commercial vessel in the Gulf of Oman.

In a statement, the headquarters said US forces opened fire on the Iranian ship while it was navigating in international waters, escalating maritime tensions amid already heightened regional volatility.

The Iranian military command further stated that US forces disabled the vessel’s navigation systems before conducting a boarding operation on the ship’s deck.

It slammed the incident as a deliberate escalation and a breach of maritime norms, warning that such actions threaten regional shipping routes and international security.

Tehran warns of imminent response

The statement stressed that the Iranian Armed Forces will respond “soon" to the piracy carried out by US forces, signaling potential escalation in maritime confrontations.

The accusations come amid ongoing tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, where maritime tracking firms and regional reports have documented continued Iranian tanker movements despite US pressure and threats of its "naval blockade."

Earlier this week, reports indicated that multiple Iranian-linked tankers successfully transited the strategic waterway between Hormuz and Larak islands without major obstruction, despite sanctions and heightened US naval activity.

One tanker, identified as Alicia, reportedly under US sanctions, also crossed the strait without incident, underscoring the contested nature of maritime control in the region.

Trump confirms US attack on Iranian vessel in violation of ceasefire agreement

US President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that the US Navy “opened fire on a cargo ship flying the Iranian flag and seized it” after it attempted to break a US naval blockade in the Gulf of Oman, in what he claimed was a violation of the ceasefire agreement.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump alleged that “Today, an Iranian-flagged cargo ship named TOUSKA, nearly 900 feet long and weighing almost as much as an aircraft carrier, tried to get past our Naval Blockade, and it did not go well for them.

He added that the US destroyer USS SPRUANCE "intercepted the TOUSKA in the Gulf of Oman, and gave them fair warning to stop. The Iranian crew refused to listen, so our Navy ship stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engine room. Right now, U.S. Marines have custody of the vessel."

No talks under pressure, our rights in Hormuz non-negotiable: Iran MP

Iran will not accept or engage in any negotiations with the United States under pressure, Iranian Member of Parliament Rouhollah Izadkhah said on Sunday, in line with the directives of the Leader of the Revolution and the Republic, Sayyed Mojtaba Khamenei.

In remarks to Al Mayadeen, Izadkhah stated that “if negotiations take place, we will enter them from a position of strength and with full confidence in our armed forces.”

He also stressed that the Islamic Republic will confront US President Donald Trump and “all his affiliates” in the region, noting that the purpose of negotiations is for the Americans to understand Tehran’s conditions.

“We will not appease anyone, and we insist on our rights in the Strait of Hormuz. We will establish a special framework to regulate it in accordance with international law,” he said.

Izadkhah also mocked Trump’s blockade of Iran as a “failed spectacle,” asserting that he does not dare to launch an attack against the Islamic Republic.

Iran Praises Pakistani Efforts, Slams US 'Lack of Good Faith'

By Al Mayadeen English

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi discusses ceasefire efforts with Pakistan, praising mediation efforts while warning of US violations and stressing Iran’s readiness to defend its national security.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held a phone call with Pakistani Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar to discuss the latest regional and international developments, with a focus on ceasefire efforts and ending ongoing conflicts.

During the call, Araghchi expressed appreciation for Pakistan’s “good offices” and mediation efforts in negotiations related to the ceasefire and attempts to end the war, stressing the importance of continued diplomatic engagement.

Araghchi reiterated that Iran has consistently adopted a responsible approach by engaging in diplomatic tracks aimed at ending the war and reducing regional tensions.

He also referred to what he described as “painful experiences” over the past year, citing repeated US violations of agreements in June 2025 and March 2026.

Warnings over escalation and lack of trust

The Iranian foreign minister warned that threats targeting Iranian ports, coastlines, and vessels, along with escalatory rhetoric, unrealistic demands, and continued US contradictions, reflect what he described as a lack of seriousness and good faith in the diplomatic process.

Araghchi emphasized that the Islamic Republic of Iran will use all available capabilities to protect its interests and national security.

Both Araghchi and his Pakistani counterpart underscored the importance of continued consultations between the two countries, stressing the shared objective of maintaining peace and security in the region.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan announced on Sunday that he held discussions with his counterparts from Egypt, Badr Abdelatty; Saudi Arabia, Faisal bin Farhan; and Pakistan, Ishaq Dar, focusing on the steps their countries will take to maintain regional security.

Fidan stressed that a meeting of regional states is “very necessary” due to the presence of “existential threats," underlining the importance of continued dialogue between regional powers and emphasizing shared concerns over stability.

Pakistan says US-Iran deal '80% complete'

As a result of Islamabad's diplomatic efforts, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Friday that the US–Iran agreement is close to being completed, but both sides must show flexibility to finalize it.

Speaking at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Turkey, Dar said Pakistan “will leave no stone unturned” in its efforts to achieve peace, emphasizing that “what Pakistan wants to see is not the extension of the ceasefire, it’s permanent end of the war."

Dar added that “we have already crossed more than 80 percent of the work done,” but stressed that “both sides need to show flexibility.”

According to Dar, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and military chief Asim Munir have been involved in mediating discussions between the two sides, including talks held in Islamabad last week, which did not produce a final agreement, though negotiations have continued.

Sharif also attended the Antalya forum, concluding a series of regional visits that included stops in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, where he and Dar held meetings with senior leadership on Pakistan-brokered talks.

Hezbollah Rejects Activity in Syria, Says Repeated Claims Must End

By Al Mayadeen English

19 Apr 2026 20:20

Hezbollah has denied Syrian claims accusing it of operating in Syria, stressing its name is being dragged into repeated allegations as part of a broader scheme to distort its reputation.

Hezbollah has issued a firm denial in response to recent claims by the Syrian Ministry of Interior alleging the arrest of a cell said to be linked to the Lebanese Resistance inside Syrian territory.

In a statement issued by its media relations, Hezbollah categorically rejected the “false and fabricated allegations,” stressing that it has no presence in Syria and carries out no form of activity there under any circumstances.

The group reiterated that it has consistently clarified its position on the matter, emphasizing that all reports linking it to operations inside Syrian territory are entirely baseless and lack any credibility.

Hezbollah also voiced great surprise and objection to repeated attempts to implicate its name in various security incidents, stressing that such accusations form part of a wider effort to assign responsibility for unrelated events to the group.

According to the statement, this narrative is aimed at “distorting the image of the resistance,” reaffirming that its primary and sole role remains, as it stated, confronting the Israeli enemy in defense of Lebanon and its people.

Broader trend amid regional tensions

It is worth noting that self-appointed interim President Ahmad Al-Sharaa has advanced normalization with "Israel" since taking power in December 2024, and has actively acted against Resistance groups in Syria.

Several statements have been issued by Syria's transitional leadership accusing Hezbollah of operating inside its territories, which have been consistently rejected. This is also a trend that stretches beyond Syria, with recent fabricated allegations coming out of Bahrain and Kuwait. 

Hezbollah has warned against such narratives, urging the countries to remain vigilant in the face of what appears to be a foreign plot to ignite tensions between Arab nations and the Axis of Resistance. 

In March, amid the US-backed Israeli aggression on Lebanon, Reuters reported that the US was pushing Syria to send forces into eastern Lebanon to attack Hezbollah, but Damascus is hesitant to undertake such an operation over concerns about being drawn into the war and inflaming sectarian tensions.

According to Reuters, the idea was first discussed by US and Syrian officials last year, and was raised again by US officials around the time Washington and "Israel" began their war against Iran. Sources told Reuters that Syria’s government considered a cross-border operation cautiously but remained reluctant.

US Envoy to Syria, Thomas Barrack, then denied the reports. 

Eight Children Killed in Domestic Violence Shooting in Louisiana

By Al Mayadeen English

Eight children were killed in a domestic violence shooting in Louisiana, as police fatally shot the suspect after a chase.

Eight children were killed in a domestic violence shooting in the US state of Louisiana early Sunday, in what local authorities described as one of the most tragic incidents in the area’s history.

According to police in Shreveport, a gunman opened fire at a residence, killing children aged between 1 and 14 years old. Seven victims were found inside the home, while an eighth child was reportedly shot while attempting to escape.

Authorities said the suspect had ties to the household and that the incident began when he shot a woman before heading to the residence where the children were located.

Suspect killed after police chase

Following the shooting, the suspect fled the scene, carjacked a vehicle, and led police on a pursuit that extended into neighboring Bossier Parish. Officers ultimately opened fire on the vehicle, killing the suspect.

Louisiana State Police have launched an investigation into the officer-involved shooting.

Officials reported that at least 10 people were shot in total, though details regarding additional victims remain unclear.

Officials describe 'unprecedented tragedy'

Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux described the incident as “a heartbreaking tragedy” and possibly the worst the city has experienced.

State Senator Sam Jenkins stressed the need for stronger and more consistent intervention in cases involving domestic violence, noting that early action could help prevent such devastating outcomes.

The shooting adds to growing concerns over gun violence in the United States. Data indicates that dozens of mass shootings have already occurred this year, with a significant number of victims being children.

Local authorities said efforts are underway to expand resources for domestic violence prevention, including the establishment of a comprehensive support center in the region.

Over 40,000 shot in US in 2025 as gun violence toll remains high

Preliminary data from the Gun Violence Archive (GVA) indicate that at least 40,000 people were shot in the United States in 2025, including more than 14,600 deaths and over 26,100 injuries.

The nonprofit organization, which tracks gun-related incidents nationwide, also reported 407 mass shootings last year, defined as events in which four or more people are killed or injured, excluding any harm to the shooter.

The GVA’s figures revealed that 224 children aged 11 or younger were killed by gunfire in 2025, while 461 others in the same age group were injured. Adolescents aged 12 to 17 accounted for 1,030 deaths and 2,733 injuries.

These statistics cover homicides, defensive gun use, and accidental shootings, but do not include suicides. Citing the CDC, the GVA noted that more than 24,000 people died by firearm suicide in 2025.

Burkina Faso Seeks 40% Stake in Gold Project, as Output Set to Surge

By Al Mayadeen English

19 Apr 2026 09:17

Burkina Faso demands a 40% stake in the Kiaka gold mine, prompting West African Resources to halt trading.

Burkina Faso’s government has moved to significantly expand its ownership of a major gold project, requesting a 40% stake in the Kiaka mine operated by Australia’s West African Resources Limited, as the company projects strong production growth in 2026, Business Insider Africa reported.

The development prompted the miner to suspend trading of its shares on the Australian Securities Exchange on Friday, with the halt expected to remain in place until at least April 21 or until further market clarification is issued.

State expands control over mining sector

The move reflects a broader policy shift by Burkina Faso’s leadership under Captain Ibrahim Traore to increase state participation in strategic natural resources. According to the company, the request follows a government decree adopted by the Council of Ministers, aligned with mining legislation introduced in 2024 aimed at strengthening national control over the sector.

The proposed 40% stake builds on earlier indications that authorities could seek up to 50% ownership in the Kiaka project. The state previously raised its share from 10% to 15% at no cost, with West African Resources estimating that a 5% increase was worth $33.4 million at the time.

Kiaka, located in the Centre-Est region and spanning approximately 54 square kilometers, began production in June 2025. The project is currently 85% owned by the Australian firm, with the remaining 15% held by the state.

Trading halt, production outlook

West African Resources stated that the trading suspension was necessary to “ensure orderly trading and an informed market” as it evaluates the implications of the government’s demand. Investor sentiment remains sensitive to both regulatory changes and broader macroeconomic factors, including global gold price movements. Prices have been supported by inflationary pressures and geopolitical tensions, though higher interest rates and a stronger US dollar continue to weigh on markets.

Despite the uncertainty surrounding ownership, the company is entering a phase of accelerated output. West African Resources is targeting annual production of between 430,000 and 490,000 ounces of gold in 2026, driven by the first full year of operations at Kiaka alongside its Sanbrado mine.

Kiaka alone is expected to contribute between 240,000 and 280,000 ounces, reinforcing its position as a cornerstone of Burkina Faso’s industrial gold sector. The company also aims to maintain all-in sustaining costs below $1,900 per ounce, suggesting resilient margins despite potential volatility in global prices.

Chief Executive and Chairman Richard Hyde described 2026 as a “landmark year” for the company, adding that shareholder returns, including dividends and a potential share buyback, are under consideration.

AU Condemns Israel's Decision to Appoint Diplomatic Envoy to Somaliland

Source: Xinhua| 2026-04-19 23:43:15|Editor: huaxia

ADDIS ABABA, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The African Union (AU) on Sunday "strongly condemned" reports of Israel's decision to appoint a diplomatic envoy to the "so-called Somaliland."

In a statement issued on Sunday, the 55-member continental organization expressed "deep concern" regarding recent developments on Israel's reported decision to appoint a diplomatic envoy to Somaliland, a self-declared region of Somalia.

The AU reaffirmed its "unwavering respect for the sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity of Somalia" in accordance with the Constitutive Act of the African Union and international law.

"The African Union does not recognize Somaliland as an independent state," the statement read. "The AU remains committed to supporting Somalia's peace, governance, and national cohesion."

Recalling an AU Peace and Security Council communique that was issued in January, it underscored that "any unilateral recognition of Somaliland is null and void." It warned that such actions risk undermining regional stability.

On Dec. 26, 2025, Israel became the first country in the world to formally recognize Somaliland as a sovereign state, prompting immediate condemnation from Somalia and the international community.

In a ministerial-level meeting held on Jan. 6, the AU Peace and Security Council rejected the unilateral recognition of Somaliland by Israel and called for its immediate revocation.

Over 46 Million Ethiopians Register for Upcoming General Election

Source: Xinhua| 2026-04-19 23:57:15|Editor: huaxia

ADDIS ABABA, April 19 (Xinhua) -- More than 46 million voters have registered, out of a population of about 130 million, to take part in Ethiopia's upcoming general election, scheduled for June 1, the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) has disclosed.

In a statement issued Saturday, NEBE said that of the 46.7 million registered voters for the country's seventh general election, about 25.2 million are men and 21.5 million are women, adding that more than 165,000 registered voters are persons with disabilities.

The electoral body said voter registration has been conducted at 46,750 polling stations nationwide, with the distribution of election materials largely completed to help ensure a smooth process.

Originally due to close in early April, the voter registration period has been extended to April 22 as preparations for the polls continue.

Earlier this year, NEBE also introduced the East African country's first digital platform for voter and candidate registration, part of broader efforts to modernize the electoral system through the use of technology.

Feature: Tanzanian Schoolgirls Pursue Dreams Through Mandarin Learning

Source: Xinhua| 2026-04-19 18:12:45|Editor: huaxia

A student writes on the whiteboard in a Chinese language class at Zanaki Secondary School in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, April 15, 2026. (Xinhua/Emmanuel Herman)

DAR ES SALAAM, April 19 (Xinhua) -- In a classroom at Zanaki Secondary School, a government-owned girls' school in Tanzania's Dar es Salaam, 13-year-old Rosemary Thadei Mushi stands among her peers, carefully guiding them through the tonal subtleties of Mandarin Chinese.

Across the campus, students are increasingly embracing Chinese not merely as an academic subject, but as a pathway to future opportunities. As the world prepares to mark Chinese Language Day, the enthusiasm among students reflects a broader trend across Africa, where interest in learning Mandarin continues to grow.

For Rosemary, a Form One student, studying Chinese has already begun to reshape her perspective. Beyond mastering characters and pronunciation, she has developed a more nuanced understanding of Chinese culture and people. Aspiring to become a doctor, she believes proficiency in the language could help her secure a scholarship to study abroad and broaden her horizons.

She also challenges common perceptions. What some describe as a "strict" sound, she says, often reflects tonal complexity rather than temperament. Her own experience has revealed something different -- a culture she describes as warm and considerate.

Fifteen-year-old Koletha Fikiri Mtakuja shares a similar vision. A Form Three student with ambitions in engineering, she views Mandarin as a gateway to accessing China's technological advancements.

"China is very advanced in science and technology," Koletha said. "Knowing Chinese will help me learn directly from their engineers."

Both students dream of visiting China, hoping to walk along the Great Wall in Beijing and experience firsthand the traditions and rapid development they currently encounter through digital platforms, music, and films.

Their ambitions align with a broader global movement. Observed annually on April 20, Chinese Language Day was established by the United Nations to promote multilingualism and the equal use of its six official languages. In recent years, the day has also come to symbolize the growing educational and economic ties between China and Africa.

Behind the students' progress stands their teacher, Ema Silagomi, one of Tanzania's pioneering Chinese language educators.

Motivated by a passion for languages, she trained in China between 2018 and 2019 under a joint program by the Tanzanian and Chinese governments, studying at Zhengzhou University of Aeronautics and Henan University, where she gained both language skills and teaching methodologies.

Upon returning to Tanzania as one of the first local Chinese language teachers, Silagomi faced the challenge of building the program from scratch. Despite limited teaching materials and the absence of immersive language environments, she remained committed to expanding access to Chinese language education.

"I saw the opportunities in China regarding education, business, and cultural exchange, and I wanted Tanzanian youth to benefit," Silagomi explained. "It is a language full of opportunities." 

Interview: China's Zero-tariff Policy Set to Boost African Exports, Support Industrial Growth, Says South African Researcher

Source: Xinhua| 2026-04-19 21:55:15|Editor: huaxia

JOHANNESBURG, April 19 (Xinhua) -- China's zero-tariff treatment for products from 53 African countries with diplomatic ties to Beijing is expected to significantly expand market access for African exports and inject fresh momentum into Africa-China trade cooperation, a Johannesburg-based legal researcher has said.

"The removal of tariffs is expected to unlock growth across key sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing, among others," Nkanyiso Ngqulunga told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Noting that China's expanding economic footprint is increasingly shaping global trade dynamics, he said African countries are seeking to better position themselves to benefit from access to China's growing market.

Agricultural exports, the researcher said, are likely to benefit first, such as citrus fruits, rooibos tea, and table grapes, which have seen rising demand among Chinese consumers.

"The initiative is expected to significantly enhance the competitiveness of these products in the Chinese market," he added.

Beyond agriculture, the new trade framework is also expected to support high-growth sectors such as advanced manufacturing, in line with South Africa's broader strategy to diversify its export base beyond raw materials, he said.

"The arrangement could serve as a catalyst for technological advancement and industrialization in South Africa," Ngqulunga said, noting that stronger participation in global supply chains could enhance economic resilience and drive innovation.

Set to take effect on May 1, the zero-tariff policy forms part of China's broader efforts to strengthen economic cooperation with Africa and promote mutual development in an evolving global trade landscape, he said, adding that it aims to expand bilateral trade, facilitate two-way investment, and provide preferential access for African exports.

Noting that the initiative underscores China's commitment to multilateral trade and South-South cooperation, he said it offers African economies improved access to one of the world's largest consumer markets and supports long-term development goals.

"The zero-tariff framework offers a real opportunity for South Africa and other African economies to expand exports and diversify their trade portfolios," said Ngqulunga.

Egypt Launches 27-bln-USD Urban Development Project in New Cairo

Source: Xinhua| 2026-04-19 05:30:00|Editor: huaxia

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly speaks at a press conference in the New Administrative Capital, Egypt, April 18, 2026. Egypt on Saturday launched the "The Spine" urban development project in New Cairo, with investments exceeding 1.4 trillion Egyptian pounds (about 27 billion U.S. dollars), according to a cabinet statement. Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly called the project "global by all standards," saying that it would deliver "a real leap in urban development and economic growth in Egypt." TO GO WITH "Egypt launches 27-bln-USD urban development project in New Cairo" (Xinhua/Xin Mengchen)

CAIRO, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Egypt on Saturday launched the "The Spine" urban development project in New Cairo, with investments exceeding 1.4 trillion Egyptian pounds (about 27 billion U.S. dollars), according to a cabinet statement.

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly called the project "global by all standards," saying that it would deliver "a real leap in urban development and economic growth in Egypt."

Madbouly noted that the project, consisting of 165 residential, administrative, and hotel towers, will create about 155,000 job opportunities and yield tax returns exceeding 800 billion Egyptian pounds.

He said the project also carries broader economic, social, and tourism benefits, including stimulating local industries and adding more than 3,500 hotel rooms.

17 Migrants' Bodies Recovered in W. Libya

Source: Xinhua| 2026-04-19 03:10:00|Editor: huaxia

TRIPOLI, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Libya's Emergency Medicine and Support Center said Saturday that it retrieved 17 bodies of irregular migrants from the shores of the western city of Zwara and nearby areas.

In a statement, the center said 14 of those recovered have been buried in accordance with approved procedures.

Libya has been a major transit point for irregular migrants due to its geographic proximity to Europe and its long Mediterranean coastline.

Zwara, a coastal city in far western Libya about 120 km from Tripoli and near Tunisia, has in recent years become a key departure point for irregular migration toward Europe, especially Italy. 

Pope Leo XIV Challenges Angola’s Leaders While Delivering a Message of Encouragement for Its People

By NICOLE WINFIELD and GERALD IMRAY

7:35 PM EDT, April 18, 2026

LUANDA, Angola (AP) — Pope Leo XIV challenged Angola’s leaders to break the “cycle of interests” that have plundered and exploited Africa for centuries as he arrived in the southern African country on Saturday with a message of encouragement for its long-suffering people.

Leo’s arrival in Angola, the oil-and-mineral rich former Portuguese colony, marked the third leg of his four-nation African voyage. En route from Cameroon, he spoke again of the ongoing back-and-forth with U.S. President Donald Trump over the Iran war.

Leo, history’s first U.S.-born pope, said that it was “not in my interest at all” to debate Trump, but that he would continue preaching the Gospel message of peace, justice and brotherhood in Africa.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance later wrote on social media that “I am grateful to Pope Leo for saying this.” Vance, a Catholic convert, suggested earlier in the week that Leo “be careful” when speaking about theology.

In Angola, Leo met with President Joao Lourenco and delivered his first speech to Angolan government authorities, in which he referred repeatedly to Angola’s tortured history of colonial plunder and civil war.

“I desire to meet you in the spirit born of peace and to affirm that your people possess treasures that cannot be bought or stolen,” he said. “There dwells within you a joy that not even the most adverse circumstances have been able to extinguish.”

A long-suffering people

Angola, which has a population of around 38 million, gained independence from Portugal in 1975. But it 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 a half-million people are believed to have been killed.

For years, the civil war was a Cold War proxy conflict, with the United States and apartheid South Africa backing one side and the Soviet Union and Cuba backing the other.

Angola is now the fourth-largest oil producer in Africa and among the world’s top 20 producers, according to the International Energy Agency. The country is also the world’s No. 3 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.

“You know well that all too often people have looked — and continue to look — to your lands in order to give, or, more commonly, in order to take,” Leo told the Angolan authorities.

The pontiff said: “It is necessary to break this cycle of interests, which reduces reality, and even life itself, to mere commodities.”

While in Cameroon, Leo had railed against the “chains of corruption” that were hindering development, as well as the “handful of tyrants” who were ravaging Earth with war and exploitation. He raised similar points in Angola.

“How much suffering, how many deaths, how many social and environmental disasters are brought about by this logic of extractivism! At every level, we see how it sustains a model of development that discriminates and excludes, while still presuming to impose itself as the only viable option.”

Jose Eduardo dos Santos, the late former president who led Angola for 38 years from 1979 to 2017, was accused of diverting billions of dollars of public money to his family, largely from the country’s oil revenue, as millions struggled in poverty.

After Lourenco took over as president, his administration estimated that at least $24 billion was stolen or misappropriated by dos Santos. Lourenco’s administration has vowed to crack down on corruption and has worked to recover funds allegedly stolen during the dos Santos era.

But critics note that Angola still has deep problems with corruption and have questioned if Lourenco’s actions were more aimed at political rivals so as to consolidate his power.

In his speech Saturday, Lourenco said that the Angolan government was committed to improving the lives of its people, but it was a “complex and difficult challenge.” He also called for an end to the Iran war and asked the pope to continue using his “moral authority” to push for peace and understanding among people.

A legacy of slavery

Angola, on the southwest coast of Africa, was considered to be the epicenter of the trans-Atlantic slave trade as a Portuguese colony. More than 5 million of the roughly 12.5 million enslaved Africans were sent across the ocean on ships departing from Angola, more than any other country, though not all of them were Angolans.

The highlight of Leo’s visit to Angola is expected to be his visit on Sunday to Muxima, south of Luanda. It’s a popular Catholic shrine in a country where around 58% of the population is Catholic.

The Church of Our Lady of Muxima was built by Portuguese colonizers at the end of the 16th century as part of a fortress complex and became a hub in the slave trade. It remains a reminder of the inextricable link hundreds of years ago between Roman Catholicism and the exploitation of the African continent.

Leo has Black and white ancestors who included both enslaved people and slave owners, according to genealogical research. He’s going to Muxima to pray the rosary, in recognition of the site becoming a popular pilgrimage destination after believers reported an appearance by the Virgin Mary around 1833.

___

Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa.