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Civilians walk along a deserted street following clashes between Somalia's federal army and forces loyal to the South West state, home to international peacekeepers and humanitarian agencies, in an area affected by drought, conflict and
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Kenya Monday kicked off a drive to register new voters ahead of next year's general election, with youths using TikTok reels and music to shake off apathy among their peers.In June 2024, a wave of protests led by the so-called "Gen Z" swept the country after President William Ruto announced tax hikes, denting his popularity among young people.They escalated into wider unrest over corruption and rights abuses and left more than 100 people dead and dozens others missing, according to rights groups.While the protests have faded, many youths remain disillusioned with the Ruto administration, which came to power promising to uplift the young and the poor."People are suffering, people are dying. Money is just getting lost out of thin air," said 21-year-old Mark Kipchumba, citing economic hardship and rampant corruption as the catalyst for registering as a first-time voter.The 30-day mass voter registration drive launched by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) aims to enlist at least 2.5mn new voters in its first phase.The commission says it hopes to add 6.3mn new voters before next year's election, 70% of them youths."I am here because of the hope that this card brings for the future," said Peter Mawangi,22, a film student at Multimedia University of Kenya.Despite the current low numbers, a youth-led campaign, called #NikoKadi (I have the voter's card), is steadily turning voter registration into a fad by urging new voters to enlist.From TikTok reels to businesses offering discounts to those registered and a planned music concert in May requiring a voter's card for entry, young people are deploying creative tactics to drive up registration.Activist Ademba Allans, the brains behind the #NikoKadi drive, says the mobilisation is gaining momentum, but added, "apathy is one of the main things that we are trying to fight."Kenya's 2022 election saw its lowest turnout in 15 years, with youth -- who make up a large share of the population -- accounting for just 39.8% of registered voters, a 5.2-point drop from 2017, according to the Kofi Annan Foundation.Allans hopes to change this and the east African nation's politics, long dominated by politicians widely seen as out of touch with the realities of young Kenyans."We want to shift the system. We want to take everybody that is in the government home," the 26-year old said.Velma Omondi, a 22-year-old, said she threatened "to cut off" two friends if they did not register, which they did."I gave them an ultimatum," she said."We cannot call for change if we are not willing to take part in the change," she added. Related Story
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Gunmen opened fire on a bar in Jos, the capital of Nigeria's restive Plateau state, sparking retaliation from a mob and killing nearly three dozen people in all, local sources said Monday.Plateau state, in central Nigeria's Middle Belt region, experiences recurring violence in the countryside, mostly linked to land disputes between farmers and herders.Jos, a religiously mixed city, has seen sectarian violence but deadly, mass casualty attacks in the crowded capital have been rare in recent years.It was unclear how many people were killed in the Sunday evening shooting in a Jos neighbourhood popular with local university students and staff and how many were killed in the ensuing mob retaliation.At least 12 people were killed when unidentified attackers opened fire at a bar-cum-restaurant in the Anguwan Rukuba neighbourhood, in the Jos North district, said Plateau state Red Cross secretary Nurudeen Hussaini Magaji.He later updated the death toll from the shooting and the mob retaliation to 33, without breaking down how many were killed in each incident."The attackers shot people at a joint," said Mangalle Idris, a local youth leader.Then a mob formed, Idris said, and "attacked people that were either passing or doing business and they killed them."After initially listing the death toll from the mob at 10, he revised that number down to three, with 30 people killed in the gunfire."Mob action killed three passersby, two of them were burnt beyond recognition," he said.The University of Jos said the attack, "and the consequential tensions it has generated", prompted it to postpone exams scheduled for Monday and Tuesday.The state government said investigations were "ongoing", without giving a toll or naming suspects, and ordered a curfew in Jos North from Sunday to Wednesday.That same evening as the Plateau attack, unidentified gunmen in the northwestern state of Kaduna killed 13 people at a pre-wedding bachelor party, local and security sources told AFP.Nigeria's northwest suffers from rural organised crime gangs, locally called "bandits", which kidnap, kill and extort citizens.In the Plateau state countryside, farmers and herders have been clashing for years over land access, sometimes erupting into massacres where entire villages are emptied out.Because the violence falls across ethnic lines, some -- including politicians in both Nigeria and the United States -- have characterised the killings as religiously driven, a view rejected by most experts.Violence has been rare in recent years in Jos, said Malik Samuel, an Abuja-based researcher at the nonprofit Good Governance Africa.However the city saw deadly sectarian riots in 2001 and 2008 that killed hundreds across religious lines, and remains "a keg of gunpowder", he said.Samuel said the government was smart to quickly institute a curfew, to halt further reprisals."But having a clear identity and motive of the perpetrators will go a long way to dousing whatever tension is simmering in the city," he added.Posts on social media after the Anguwan Rukuba attack variously blamed -- without evidence -- on herders or "bandits" for targeting a community on Palm Sunday.The Plateau chapter of Jama'atu Nasril Islam, a Nigerian civil society group, called the attacks a "grave threat to peace and coexistence"."We urge all citizens to exercise restraint. We must not allow anger and grief to push us into actions that could worsen the situation," it said.Researchers blame Plateau state's current, mostly rural, crisis on climate change, illegal mining and population growth squeezing available land.Impunity for killings across rural areas largely abandoned by the state often spark recurrent reprisals.Local politicians are also known to inflame tensions in Plateau, where the question of which ethnic groups are "indigenous" to the land is politically sensitive. Related Story
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Pakistan's FM Ishaq Dar (second right) with his counterparts, Turkiye's Hakan Fidan (right), Saudi Arabia's Faisal bin Farhan (second left), and Egypt's Badr Abdelatty, at the Foreign Office in Islamabad Sunday. (AFP) Pakistan said Sunday that it was ready to broker and host "meaningful talks" between the United States and Iran to bring an end to their war, outlining growing support for its peace efforts, including from the United Nations and China.The government in Islamabad has emerged as a key facilitator, relaying messages between the two sides to try to stop the conflict from escalating.Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar hosted his counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkiye for several hours in the Pakistani capital Sunday, with concern high about the impact of the fighting, including the choking of maritime traffic through the strategic Strait of Hormuz.In a televised statement, Dar, who is also Pakistan's deputy prime minister, said the visitors "expressed their full support" for potential US-Iran talks in Islamabad."The foreign ministers advocated dialogue and diplomacy as the only viable pathway to prevent conflicts and to promote regional peace and harmony," he added.Pakistan is seeking to capitalise on its longstanding links with Tehran and close contacts in the Gulf, as well as the personal rapport that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the country's powerful army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, have struck up with US President Donald Trump.Dar and Sharif have held several calls with senior government ministers in Iran, including President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, and were "actively engaged" with the US administration, the foreign minister said."In this context, Pakistan is very happy that both Iran and the US have expressed their confidence in Pakistan to facilitate the talks," he added."Pakistan will be honoured to host and facilitate meaningful talks between the two sides in coming days, for a comprehensive and lasting settlement of the ongoing conflict."Dar has spoken to his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. They "fully support" Pakistan's push for peace, as do other governments around the world, he added.Sunday's talks, held under tight security and with no US, Israeli or Iranian representation, addressed efforts to stop the conflict from spreading and to encourage "a negotiations track" between Tehran and Washington to prevent the region "slipping into a state of complete chaos", Cairo said.All three visiting ministers — Badr Abdelatty from Egypt, Hakan Fidan from Turkiye, and Saudi Arabia's Faisal bin Farhan — also met Sharif as well as Munir.Tehran has refused to admit to holding official talks with Washington but has passed a response to Trump's 15-point plan to end the war via Islamabad, Iran's Tasnim news agency has reported.Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on Friday he expected a direct US-Iran meeting in Pakistan "very soon".But Shuja Nawaz, founder director of the South Asia Center at the Atlantic Council, said Pakistan had taken on a "challenging task" in trying to get Washington and Tehran to the table."It could only do this with Saudi blessing," Nawaz, author of *The Battle for Pakistan: The Bitter US Friendship and a Tough Neighbourhood, told AFP."The real challenge for Pakistan is to bring together a single person in the White House who changes his mind frequently and an Iranian government that is debating whether to fight a long war or find an end to its economy being further devastated."Israeli autonomous decision-making will further complicate any Trump decision to claim victory and end a conflict that is hurting his popularity at home. Pakistan has limited leverage over both the US and Iran; none with Israel."Will it remain an event planner only?"Pakistan's efforts make economic sense: it relies on oil and gas imports through the Strait of Hormuz. Continued disruption to shipping could worsen fuel supplies, driving up prices and forcing further austerity measures.Dar said late on Saturday that Iran had allowed 20 more Pakistani-flagged vessels — or two ships daily — to pass through the Strait. Related Story
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Hundreds of people were evacuated from a nightclub in southwest Germany after a fire broke out, police said Sunday, with images from the scene showing the blaze raging on the building's roof.Police said the fire began around 3:45am (0145 GMT) in the nightclub in Kehl, which is on the border with France.The blaze went on to 'spread over the whole building', a police statement added.All of the roughly 750 people inside at the time were able to escape, with three people treated by emergency services.Images published in German media showed a huge fire on the roof of the nightclub, which is located in an industrial area of the city.In a statement, Kehl's mayor Wolfram Britz said he was 'happy and relieved that nobody was hurt' and thanked the nightclub owner for ensuring an orderly evacuation.Firefighters were on the scene into Sunday afternoon, with remnants of the fire being put out in the interior of the nightclub.City authorities said the damage was so extensive that most of the building had to be torn down.The blaze came months after a bar in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana caught fire in the early hours of New Year's Day, killing 41 people.Kehl lies directly across the Rhine River from the French city of Strasbourg, and the club regularly attracts visitors from across the border.Unlike in the Crans-Montana fire, in Kehl the evacuation process seems to have gone smoothly.'All of a sudden we heard: there's a fire! There were several announcements in German, French and English,' a reveller told the local French newspaper DNA.The paper quoted clubbers as saying the staff 'handled it really well' and that the evacuation was 'very quick'.An investigation has been opened into the fire, the cause of which was not immediately clear.
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Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar and visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan discussed today the latest developments in the Middle East region. During the meeting, both sides emphasized the importance of dialogue and continued diplomatic efforts to promote peace and stability in the region.They also focused on ways to strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries in various fields
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German transport companies have warned that the sharp spike in diesel prices is placing severe pressure on the country's freight sector.Dirk Engelhardt, head of the German Road Haulage, Logistics and Waste Disposal Association, said diesel prices have soared by around 40 cents per liter since the start of the war in Iran.Engelhardt noted that the additional operating cost for a single truck-assuming a monthly distance of 10,000 kilometers and fuel consumption of 30 liters per 100 kilometers-amounts to about EUR 1,200 per month. For a fleet of 50 trucks, these costs exceed EUR 700,000 annually, he opined.It is clear that this will have potential repercussions on consumer prices sooner or later, Engelhardt added.In light of this increase, the transport sector is calling for urgent government measures to ease the burden. Engelhardt stressed that what matters most is taking swift steps to ensure companies' liquidity and the continuity of supply chains.Among the proposals under discussion are the introduction of a diesel price cap to limit pressure on companies and prevent the insolvency of medium-sized firms, as well as the possibility of refunding the carbon dioxide tax on diesel or suspending its inclusion in truck toll charges.Engelhardt emphasized that the most important factor is that these measures be precisely targeted and that their effects reach transport companies directly.
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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has overseen a ground test of a high-thrust solid-fuel missile engine using a composite carbon fiber material, saying the test was a part of the North's five-year plan to upgrade its strategic capabilities.Kim oversaw the test of a newly upgraded engine made with composite carbon fiber material, with a maximum thrust of 2,500 kilonewtons, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said without disclosing the date or location of the test.The test was part of a five-year national defence development plan aimed at the steady upgrading of strategic strike means, the KCNA said, quoting Kim as saying that North Korea's defence capabilities had "entered a significant phase of change in the building of the strategic forces."It marks the North's first high-thrust solid-fuel missile engine test since the last test conducted in September last year, when the engine's maximum thrust was put at 1,971 kN. The engine is assessed to have been developed for use in the Hwasong-20 intercontinental ballistic missile under development.Kim touted the test as having "great significance" in putting the country's strategic military capabilities to the highest level, saying it "fully conforms with the national strategy and the military demand for modernizing the strategic forces."The country's defence capabilities "would be further transformed and accelerated by the development and introduction of better components with superior economic and technical effectiveness as proven in the test," he said.The KCNA reported that Kim has inspected a separate test aimed at assessing the performance of the new main battle tanks, organized by the Armored Weapons Institute of the Academy of Defence Sciences.The test examined the combat effectiveness of the protection system against anti-tank means attacking from different directions and confirmed its defensive performance with a 100 percent success rate, the KCNA said.
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The Algerian presidency announced the death of former President Liamine Zeroual at the age of 85 after a battle with illness.In a statement carried by the Algerian News Agency, the presidency said that Zeroual passed away yesterday evening at the Mohamed Seghir Nekkache Military Hospital in the capital, Algiers, praising his national career and his service to the country.Zeroual, who was born in 1941 in the city of Batna in eastern Algeria, is considered one of the country’s most prominent military and political figures. He joined the National Liberation Army and participated in the war of independence between 1957 and 1962. After independence, he held several leadership positions in the Algerian army.He occupied key military roles, including commanding the military school in Batna and later the military academy in Cherchell, before eventually being appointed commander of the land forces within the army’s general staff.On the political front, he was appointed head of state on Jan. 31, 1994, by the High Council of State, before being elected President of Algeria on Nov. 16, 1995.In September 1998, Zeroual announced that he would shorten his presidential term and called for early elections. His tenure ended on Apr. 27, 1999, when he was succeeded by the late President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Related Story
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The Iranian side has agreed to allow the passage of twenty additional Pakistan-flagged ships through the Strait of Hormuz, with two ships crossing daily, said Pakistani Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Saturday.In a post on his official X account, he said: "This positive announcement marks a meaningful step toward peace and will strengthen our collective efforts in that direction. Dialogue, diplomacy, and such confidence-building measures are the only way forward".The Strait of Hormuz is one of the most strategic maritime passages in the world, as it forms the main artery for almost one-fifth of global oil production and roughly a quarter of global liquefied natural gas trade from Gulf states to world markets, including Pakistan, which heavily relies on these supplies to meet its energy needs from regional countries.Since the outbreak of the US-Israeli war on Iran on February 28, and Iran’s response with missile and drone attacks on Israel and several regional countries, tensions between the sides have festered, causing major disruptions in shipping through the Strait, as most tankers have temporarily halted transit.These developments have contributed to rising oil prices and raised international concerns about global energy security. Related Story
