Lawmakers Alert on Potential Funding Shortfalls for Liberia’s Major Budget

Lawmakers Warn of Risks to Draft 2026 National Budget Targets Lawmakers are raising alarms about the ambitious US$1.2 billion target of the Draft 2026 National Budget, insisting that without key reforms, these goals remain at risk of being unmet. This budget, the largest proposed under President Joseph Nyuma Boakai's administration, signifies a bold expansion in government spending. It emphasizes funding for social projects, civil service restructuring, infrastructure investment, and governance reforms. However, lawmakers…

Lobito Corridor: Reflecting Africa’s Socioeconomic Struggles and Failures

Lobito Corridor, the multimodal transport link from Angola’s Atlantic port to Central Africa’s mineral belts, has been paraded at this week’s 7th African Union–European Union Summit in Luanda as a flagship sign of renewed partnership between Europe and Africa. Western capitals and sympathetic media have billed the corridor as a strategic answer to China’s expanding footprint on the continent. But in a stinging appraisal published in Maka Angola, journalist Rafael Marques de Morais urges a different reading: the corridor, he…

New search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 set to resume this month

Malaysia's transport ministry said the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 will resume Dec. 30, more than a decade after the Beijing-bound Boeing 777 vanished in one of aviation's most enduring mysteries. The renewed operation, announced in a ministry statement on Friday, will be carried out “in targeted area assessed to have the highest probability of locating the aircraft,” but officials did not disclose a precise search location. MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with…

Sudan’s RSF Accused of Atrocities in Refugee Settlement

War Crimes Committed in Sudan's Zamzam Camp, Amnesty Reports An international rights group has alleged that Sudanese paramilitary forces committed war crimes during a brutal raid earlier this year on Darfur's largest displacement camp. The report highlights severe humanitarian violations as the conflict in Sudan deepens. Amnesty International accused the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of targeting civilians in the Zamzam camp. The attack was part of a broader assault on the city of el-Fasher in North Darfur.…

Somali PM Addresses Trump’s Remarks as Minnesota Immigration Raids Begin

Somalia’s Prime Minister Responds to Trump Remarks as Immigration Raids Begin in Minnesota Somalia’s Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre has responded to remarks by U.S. President Donald Trump about Somali immigrants, as reports indicate U.S. immigration authorities are preparing enforcement operations aimed at Somali communities in Minnesota. Trump, speaking during a cabinet meeting, said he does not want Somalis in the United States and told them to “go back to where they came from.” He described Somalia as “a bad country” and…

Mogadishu doctors diagnose rare C-section scar endometriosis in Somali patient

Mogadishu — A rare cesarean section complication has been confirmed in Somalia after a 30-year-old woman developed scar endometriosis, a painful condition in which endometrial tissue grows in a surgical incision, according to a new case report by Dr. Abdirahman Omar Moallim of Kaafi Hospital and Dr. Mohamed Ali Kahiye of Sahan Diagnostic Center. The case underscores an emerging risk in Somalia’s maternal health system as cesarean deliveries rise, especially in urban centers. Scar endometriosis is often mistaken for a hernia…

Guinea-Bissau: Analyzing the Coup Debate Within the Expanding Sahel Region

Crisis Deepens in Guinea-Bissau: A Political Stunt or Genuine Coup? The recent turmoil in Guinea-Bissau has sparked intense debate among analysts and commentators, with some suggesting that the events unfold less like a traditional coup and more like a politically orchestrated stunt shrouded in military theatrics. Daniel T. Makokera, writing in an AllAfrica guest column, suggests that there is a "growing belief that the crisis may have been an inside job," framing it as "a carefully managed confrontation used to settle…

Von der Leyen: EU entering new era of energy independence from Russia

BRUSSELS — European Union leaders reached an overnight agreement to ban imports of Russian gas by autumn 2027, a landmark step aimed at severing a major revenue stream for Moscow and marking, in the words of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, "the dawn of a new era" of energy independence from Russia. The compromise, struck between EU capitals and the European Parliament, sets a staggered timetable: long-term pipeline contracts will be prohibited from Sept. 30, 2027 — provided EU gas storage levels are…

Ex-EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini faces fraud and corruption allegations

Former EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini Accused in EU Procurement Fraud Probe BRUSSELS — Federica Mogherini, the EU's former high representative for foreign and security policy, has been formally accused of procurement fraud, corruption, conflict of interest and violating professional secrecy, the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) said Friday. EPPO said three people were the subject of the accusations. They were detained during raids linked to an investigation into suspected fraud connected to EU-funded…

NATO Chief Says Only Trump Can End Ukraine-Russia Impasse

BRUSSELS — NATO foreign ministers met in Brussels on Tuesday amid growing unease over a draft peace plan to end the war in Ukraine and concern that U.S.-led diplomacy with Moscow could sideline the alliance. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told reporters that only U.S. President Donald Trump, he believed, might be able to break the current deadlock over the conflict — a remark reflecting frustration among some allies about the slow pace and informal channels of negotiations. “The peace talks are ongoing, that’s good, but…