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Reuters says it has identified the elusive British street artist Banksy as Robin Gunningham, a Bristol-born man who later used the name David Jones, following an extensive investigation that links immigration records, eyewitness accounts and past legal documents to murals the artist claimed in Ukraine in 2022. The news agency’s probe centers on a series of stencil works Banksy posted on Instagram in late 2022 as his own, painted on shattered buildings around Kyiv. Witnesses in the village of Horenka told Reuters an ambulance…

Ireland tracks 24,400 citizens in Gulf as charter flight readies departure from Oman; Middle East flight disruptions persist Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee said 24,400 Irish citizens have registered their presence in the Gulf region as the government accelerates repatriation efforts amid a sixth straight day of air travel disruption linked to the war involving Iran. Speaking in the Dáil and to RTÉ News, McEntee said registrations are rising daily and that about 80% of travelers on direct Dubai–Dublin flights last…

Each morning in Lviv’s historic Lychakiv Cemetery, the newest section fills with quiet footsteps. Among the mourners is Olga Smolynets, who arrives daily to visit the grave of her son, Ostap. The site has become a ledger of the war’s cost, a place where Ukraine’s recent history is etched into wood for now, and soon into stone. More than 1,000 Ukrainian servicemen and servicewomen killed since Russia’s full-scale invasion are buried here, their resting places forming a stark geography of loss at one of Eastern Europe’s most…

Every morning, Olga Smolynets walks past rows of fresh graves in Lviv’s historic Lychakiv Cemetery and stops at her son’s resting place. She comes every day, she says, to sit with his memory. For Smolynets—and for thousands of families across Ukraine—the cemetery has become a map of grief etched into the landscape of a war with no clear end. More than 1,000 Ukrainian servicemen and servicewomen who have been killed since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion are buried at Lychakiv. Last December, the current military…

The Trump administration is canceling humanitarian aid programs it previously identified as lifesaving, according to an internal State Department email obtained by The Atlantic, a move that could sharply reduce assistance to vulnerable populations in parts of Africa. The internal communication, made public by The Atlantic, says the new round of cuts will end all U.S. humanitarian funding in seven African countries. The report did not identify the countries by name in its initial coverage. The email marks a reversal from…

JOHANNESBURG — The acting head of South Africa’s Special Investigating Unit (SIU) on Thursday urged residents to report suspicious behaviour in their communities — singling out neighbours who suddenly drive “flashy cars” — as the unit released findings from a probe into corruption at the Department of Home Affairs. Leonard Lekgetho said the SIU’s investigation, authorised by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2024 after a whistleblower complaint, uncovered syndicates operating inside the visa and permit system. Evidence indicates…

Trump administration orders sweeping re-review of Biden-era refugee admissions, freezes green-card processing WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has ordered a comprehensive review and re-interview of refugees admitted to the United States under former President Joe Biden, an unprecedented step that could reopen cases for roughly 233,000 people and halt their path to permanent residence, according to an internal government memo seen by Reuters. The memo, dated Nov. 21 and signed by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services…

Thousands of South Africans joined an online and street-level protest this week calling on the government to declare gender-based violence (GBV) a national disaster, a demand activists say is necessary to match the scale of attacks on women across the country. The movement, which began on social media and crystallised in a coordinated "G20 Women's Shutdown," asked women to withdraw from work and the economy for a day, wear black, and lie down for 15 minutes at noon to honour those killed. Organisers urged supporters to turn…

Nigerian Violence: A Growing Concern Amid Escalating Attacks This section explores the recent surge in violence attributed to banditry in Nigeria, particularly focusing on the abduction of schoolgirls and the death of military personnel. These incidents highlight the urgent need for a reassessment of Nigeria's security strategies. Experts indicate that Nigerians constitute 99% of the bandits in the region. Public outrage is growing due to the alarming nature of the violence. Recent incidents have sparked…

Zimbabwe’s Human Rights Report: A Pattern of Violence, State Complicity and Vulnerable Lives When the Zimbabwe Peace Project released a terse but damning account this week documenting more than 3,000 victims of rights abuses in a single month, it read like a catalogue of a nation trapped between political control and social distress. The group documented at least 121 distinct incidents in August, finding that women and people with disabilities were disproportionately affected. Nearly half of the violations, the report says,…