Free Republic

Israel launching strikes into Iran...Messaging in Mainstream Media is that Israel's attack on Iran was 'limited'. No comment from Israel.... Tonight some damage reported no casualties in southwestern Russia's Belgorod City and Region... Ratings agency S and P Global lowering Israel's long-term credit rating... At the United Nations Security Council the US vetoing a resolution calling for admission of the Palestinian Authority as a UN member nation... At a meeting of G7 foreign ministers US Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying China is supporting Russia's ability to fight the War in Ukraine... Meanwhile Ukraine is doing more trade with China......

Several Malian soldiers were killed in the jihadist ambush on Thursday of an army convoy heading for Niger, in the Ménaka region (northeast), a military official and a local elected official said on Friday..."We can speak of about twenty people if we count the dead, wounded and missing Malian soldiers" , said the local elected official, stressing that the balance sheet is "not yet very clear".Both spoke on condition of anonymity in the absence of official communication from the authorities.The elected official reported that the Malian army and paramilitaries from the Russian security group Wagner were deployed in the area....

Nigerien Air Base 201 in Agadez, Niger is the largest Air Force-led Construction project in recent history. It’s 6000-foot runway will expand the Air Force’s ability to project air power to western Africa to combat growing violent extremists in the region. 600 REDHORSE Airmen spent 1000 days battling environmental and logistical hurdles to build the critical base in the Sahel region.

Nigers coup leaders said they closed die country's airspace shortly before the expiration of a deadline fron¡\the West African bloc ECOWAS for them to hand back power or face possible military intervention.

Breaking news on the crisis in Niger; a PMC Wagner (Russian-language site at link) source has stated: A decision was made to deploy combat troops of the Wagner PMC in & around the capital of Niger, in light of current security situation & foreign threats.PMC Wagner, also known as the Wagner Group, is a Russian state-funded military group controlled by Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin, and technically operates outside Russian law, which prohibits private military groups.PMC Wagner is also the group implicated in an aborted coup attempt in Russia last June, which led to the arrest of Russian General Sergei Surovikin....

Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe James Stavridis warned on Sunday that the conflict in Niger amid a looming deadline for coup leaders to cede power could potentially lead to a "full-blown war in Africa." The Sunday deadline established by a coalition of West African nations for Niger to return to democratic rule is set to expire. The demand has been shunned by fellow military-led countries Burkina Faso and Mali, who have jointly warned that any intervention would amount to a declaration of war.

Mohamed Bazoum is the president of the Republic of Niger.I write this as a hostage. Niger is under attack from a military junta that is trying to overthrow our democracy, and I am just one of hundreds of citizens who have been arbitrarily and illegally imprisoned. This coup, launched against my government by a faction in the military on July 26, has no justification whatsoever. If it succeeds, it will have devastating consequences for our country, our region and the entire world. Our government came to power through a democratic election in 2021. Any attempt to overthrow a lawful government...

The military governments of Burkina Faso and Mali have warned that any military intervention against last week’s coup leaders in Niger would be considered a “declaration of war” against their nations. Niger’s neighbours issued the warning in joint statements read out on their national broadcasters on Monday, days after West African leaders threatened to use force to reinstate Niger’s deposed President Mohamed Bazoum.

Iran attracts a few tourists who love to see, and if possible, fly on vintage airliners that have vanished from the skies elsewhere. US sanctions on the sale of airliners containing US-manufactured components make it impossible to sell not just Boeings but also Airbus planes, which rely on engines, avionics and other bits and pieces which are developed and made in the USA. As a result, the airlines of Iran rely on old models that were flying in Iran before the Islamic Revolution, or which have been smuggled into the country by devious means. A cloak and dagger tale has...

Two incidents in villages in the north and northwestern parts of the country were reported at the weekend, official said Suspected jihadists killed at least 34 people in attacks on villages in northern Burkina Faso at the weekend, officials and sources said Monday. In the northwest of the country, 22 people, reportedly including children, were killed late Sunday at Bourasso in Kossi province, said Boucle du Mouhoun regional governor Babo Pierre Bassinga. "Armed men moved around the village at around 5:00 pm, firing in the air. They came back at night and blindly opened fire on people," a security source...

The government of the Republic of Mali in West Africa confirmed that as many as 132 civilians have been killed in recent attacks by Islamic terrorists in the country (Source: CGTN) The government of the Republic of Mali in West Africa confirmed on Monday that as many as 132 civilians have been killed in recent attacks by Islamic terrorists in the country. According to authorities, the killings occurred when numerous villages in the Bankass area in Mali’s central Mopti region were attacked on Saturday and Sunday. The attacks were carried out by Islamic terrorists belonging to the Katiba Macina armed...

An 83-year-old American nun has been kidnapped by armed men during a nighttime raid in Burkina Faso in West Africa, the bishop of the local diocese said Tuesday. Sister Suellen Tennyson, a nun from a parish in Yalgo in the country’s north, was taken by the unidentified men on Monday night. Tennyson, who belongs to the Catholic congregation Marianites of Holy Cross, has served in a community of nuns in Yalgo since 2014, according to the diocese.

Soldiers in the West African country of Burkina Faso on Monday announced on state television that they have seized power following a mutiny over the civilian president's failure to contain an Islamist insurgency, AFP reports. A junior officer announced the suspension of the constitution, the dissolution of the government and parliament, and the closure of the country's borders as of midnight Monday, reading from a statement signed by Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba. The officer said the new Patriotic Movement for Preservation and Restoration (MPSR) would re-establish "constitutional order" within a "reasonable time", adding that a nationwide nightly curfew would...

OUAGADOUGOU, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Burkina Faso's ruling party said on Monday President Roch Kabore had survived an assassination attempt, adding that what began as a mutiny by some soldiers on Sunday was rapidly evolving into a coup. Kabore has not appeared in public since heavy gunfire erupted at military camps on Sunday, when soldiers demanded more support for their fight against Islamist militants. The government initially denied that the army had seized power...

A delegation led by the mayor of Banibangou was ambushed on Tuesday about 50 km (30 miles) from the town, near the border with Mali. The area is overrun by militants associated with a local affiliate of Islamic State that has killed hundreds of civilians in rural communities this year. A poverty-stricken, arid zone of west Africa encompassing the borderlands of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso has been racked by violence in recent years as armed groups, some linked with al-Qaeda, have sought to establish control over communities and rid the region of local and international military forces. Thousands of...

Burkina Faso sportsman on Saturday broke the world record for log lifting at the Giants Live World Tour Finals in Scotland. Cheick Ahmed al-Hassan Sanou, also known as Iron Biby, lifted a 229kg (36st 1lb) log over his head at the competition, breaking the previous world record of 228kg. The 29-year-old, who dedicated his trophy to Burkina Faso, was given a heroic welcome as he returned to his country on Monday. Fans crowded at the airport waving banners reading “You are the pride of the entire nation” and “Bravo champion”, to welcome him, the AFP reported. A video of his...

The attack took place in the landlocked nation of Burkina Faso, where the government said the perpetrators also burned homes and the market in the village of Solhan, in the country’s eastern Yagha province... Attacks by jihadists linked to al Qaeda and an ISIS affiliated group called the Islamic State in West Africa’s Sahel region have displaced tens of thousands of people in recent months. In the past two years, more than 1.14 million people have lost homes and livelihoods in the poor country, which is also hosting some 20,000 refugees from neighboring Mali who are seeking safety from jihadist...

Two Spanish journalists making a documentary about anti-poaching efforts and a third foreign national were killed in Burkina Faso after being kidnapped there on Monday, according to the authorities from the Western African nation and Spain. The killings come at a time of increasing violence in Burkina Faso and a deteriorating security situation in the Sahel, especially in the border area of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. Burkina Faso has seen attacks from many armed groups, several of them linked to the Islamic State and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Attackers on motorbikes have stormed countless villages, forcing residents...

Secretary General. Joined by 34 other countries, the document enshrines the Trump administration’s pro-life diplomacy on the official record of the General Assembly. “The United States strongly supports the dignity of all human beings and protecting life from the moment of conception throughout the lifespan,” Ambassador Kelly Craft wrote to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres transmitting the Geneva Consensus Declaration on Promoting Women’s Health and Strengthening the Family. Following the letter, the declaration was issued as an official document of the United Nations last week and circulated on December 11, after having been translated into all six official UN languages....

Two days before Burkina Faso's President Roch Marc Christian Kabore held a campaign rally in the northern town of Dori earlier this month, the body of a driver for a regional MP was found 15 kilometres (nine miles) away.The death of Sorgho Wendtoin served as a brutal reminder of the difficulty of holding a national election in a country where large areas remain outside the state's control due to a grinding jihadist insurgency.Amadou Abdouramane Ly, a civil servant in Dori and parliamentary candidate for the ruling party, said: "We must tell the truth, the situation is precarious"."This is a new...