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Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani, the iconic head of Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, was reportedly pictured with PMF forces at a border site in northwestern Iraq shortly after militias had secured it, signaling the importance of the event. Iran has also sent advisers and supported powerful paramilitary movements such as the Lebanon-based Hezbollah that back the Syrian military as it attempts to restore control of its side of the Syria-Iraq border. Iran is not only an ally of the U.S.-backed Iraqi government, but also of the Russia-backed Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad, who faces a six-year insurgency from ISIS and various other rebel groups, some of which are backed by the U.S. On the other side of the Iraq-Syria border site recently taken by the PMF lies territory held by the Kurdish-majority Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), made up of Arabs and ethnic minorities. While the SDF has become the U.S.' main ally against

Nigeria’s security forces must deal cautiously with pro-Biafra protests on Tuesday, a year after dozens were killed in similar protests, Amnesty International has said. Tuesday marks the 50th anniversary of the declaration of an independent Republic of Biafra , which was formerly a region in southeast Nigeria. The annexation of Biafra by an ex-Nigerian military commander, Odumegwu Ojukwu, sparked a three-year civil war in which at least 1 million people died. Pro-Biafra activists, including the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), have called for stay-at-home protests in southeast Nigeria to mark what they call Biafra Heroes Day. Supporters of the Biafran cause have shared purported images on social media of empty streets in some southern Nigerian states; many businesses in the states of Anambra and Onitsha were closed Tuesday, Nigeria’s Premium Times reported During similar commemorations on May 29-30, 2016, Nigerian security forces killed at lea

  Nigerian lawmakers passed a bill aimed at cracking down on money laundering by urging foreign countries where currency crooks are hiding to cooperate in prosecuting them, a senior official said on Tuesday. According to the bill, Nigeria may ask any country where a money launderer is hiding to help it prosecute the offender, or prosecute that person itself. In the second case, Abuja would supply the country with evidence to support a conviction. Development in the OPEC member, which has Africa's largest economy, has been stunted by endemic corruption. Most people live on less than $2 a day despite the country's vast energy wealth, much of which has been plundered by a rich elite. "This act will facilitate the needed cooperation with other states to prevent individuals from escaping prosecution by fleeing to another country," said Senate President Bukola Saraki. The bill was originally presented by President Muhammadu Buh

The Egyptian military has flown multiple raids and destroyed 15 4X4 vehicles crossing from Libya , deploying fighter jets and helicopter gunships in an operation that spanned 48 hours. The military didn't say who was driving the vehicles or give details of any casualties, news agencies reported. The only information provided on Monday came on the Egyptian military's Facebook page, which claimed the trucks were carrying weapons and other contraband. The air force operation came as security forces killed eight fighters identified as members of the Muslim Brotherhood  in an attack in the country's south, according to the interior ministry. President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has launched the toughest crackdown on armed groups in Egypt's modern history since toppling former President Mohamed Morsi of the Brotherhood in 2013. Those killed included Helmi Masri Mohareb, a commander from Libya who transported fighters across Egypt 's southern border to join training ca

On Sunday, while the majority of young Hollywood walked the red carpet at the MTV Movie and TV Awards in Los Angeles, showing off their best and boldest ensembles from political slogan tees to full-on Bollywood inspired looks , one influential teen was noticeably absent - preeminent reality star and lip kit aficionado Kylie Jenner . But as she demonstrated that evening, who needs the chaos of a red carpet and golden popcorn trophies when you can display all of your latest fashions to the utmost advantage on social media all from the comfort of your own home? And that’s just what Kylie did, taking to her preferred medium of Snapchat to flaunt her latest look. The cosmetics CEO, 19, filmed her outfit in her typical fashion, posting a series of snaps in which she stands before a mirror, slowly panning over portions of her body while rap music plays in the background, quickly zooming in and out on her own pout, and catching her frien

There are few days in the Russian calendar that can lay claim over a single word as May 9 can over “victory.” The Soviet Red Army’s counter-offensive against Nazi Germany—which verged on catastrophic in the war’s early days—ended with a triumphant march into Berlin in 1945. Even in modern Russia the anniversary remains not only a massive public celebration, but an intensely personal one for citizens of Russia and many of the former Soviet republics, whose collective casualties during World War II exceed 25 million. May 9 has become the day to commemorate that staggering loss of life and one of Russia’s most popular holidays. Russia marks the anniversary a day after the rest of Europe , which commemorates the end of World War II on May 8. In April and early May 1945, with the Nazis retreating on both the Eastern and Western fronts, German troops had already begun surrendering in a piecemeal fashion. The Nazi regime negotiated a surrender wi

South Korea has placed its military on high alert ahead of its presidential elections, just as its North Korean neighbour has called to put an end to the decades-long "inter-Korean confrontation." Pyongyang has suggested that Seoul pave the way for a "new era of unification" to maintain peace between the two sides. Voting will open on 9 May to choose a new president to replace Park Geun-hye, who was impeached over corruption charges. The official newspaper of Pyongyang's ruling Workers' Party, the Rodong Sinmun, on Monday (8 May) blamed the conservative South Korean government for the current state of relations between the two Koreas. "The history of inter-Korean confrontation, led by the conservatives, should be put to an end and a new era of unification should open up in collaboration between our race." The conservative Liberty Korea Party, previously known as the New

Moscow may be looking to take advantage of the nuclear standoff between Pyongyang and the international community . As cracks deepen in the decades-old friendship between China and North Korea amid increasing U.S. pressure, Russian President Vladimir Putin stands ready to fill Beijing's shoes. " Russia (has) begun quietly laying the groundwork that would strengthen its ties to North Korea, thus increasing its global political leverage should it need it," analysts at political intelligence firm Stratfor explained in a May 5 report, referring to Putin's strained ties with the West. Both countries share a long history of ideological and economic relations —

Iran will hit back at most of Saudi Arabia with the exception of Islam's holiest places if the kingdom does anything "ignorant," Tehran's defense minister was quoted as saying Sunday after a Saudi prince threatened to move the "battle" to Iran. "If the Saudis do anything ignorant, we will leave no area untouched except Mecca and Medina," Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan was quoted by the semi-official Tasnimnews agency as saying. "They think they can do something because they have an air force," he added in an apparent reference to Yemen, where Saudi warplanes regularly attack Iran-aligned Houthi forces in control of the capital Sanaa Dehghan, speaking to Arabic-language Al-Manar TV, was commenting on remarks by Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who said Tuesday any contest for influence between the Sunni Muslim kingdom and the revolutionary Shi'ite theocracy ought

It’s been over half a decade since Japan’s Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant suffered a catastrophic meltdown due to the effects of a tsunami which struck the island nation, but scientists are only just now confirming its far-reaching effects. After conducting the first worldwide survey to measure the ultimate radiation exposure caused by the reactor meltdown, researchers at the Norwegian Institute for Air Research finally have a figure on exactly how much extra radiation humanity was exposed to. According to the group’s data, over 80 percent of the radiation that was released by the meltdown ended up in either the ocean or ice at the north and south poles. Of the remaining radiation, each human on the planet received roughly 0.1 millisievert, which equates to about “one extra X-ray each,” according to the team. That amount of radiation isn’t likely to have much of an effect on humanity, however, and in comparison to the normal amount of radiation each of us receives ove

“The President wishes to assure all Nigerians that there is no cause for worry. He is very grateful for the prayers and good wishes of the people, and hopes they would continue to pray for the peace and unity of the nation,” said the statement. Buhari traveled to London in January for what was initially described as a short vacation , but ended up staying for almost two months, delegating authority to his deputy Yemi Osinbajo . The extended trip prompted wild speculation in Nigeria about the state of Buhari’s health—or even whether he had died—but the president’s team has remained tight-lipped about the nature of his illness. Buhari himself has not disclosed his ailment, though he did indicate he had a blood transfusion during his last stay in London and said he had “never been so sick.” The president’s departure followed a significant breakthrough in the long-running saga of the Chibok girls . Boko Haram militants kidnapped 276 girls

By Felix Onuah and Ahmed Kingimi ABUJA/MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Boko Haram militants have released 82 schoolgirls out of a group of more than 200 whom they kidnapped from the northeastern town of Chibok three years ago in exchange for prisoners, the presidency said on Saturday. Around 270 girls were kidnapped in April 2014 by the Islamist militant group, which has killed 15,000 people and displaced more than two million during a seven-year insurgency aimed at creating an Islamic caliphate in northeastern Nigeria. Dozens escaped in the initial melee, but more than 200 remained missing for more than two years. Nigeria thanked Switzerland and the International Committee of the Red Cross for helping secure the release of the 82 girls after "lengthy negotiations", the presidency said in a statement. President Muhammadu Buhari will r

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — The Latest on the release of Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped three years ago by Boko Haram extremists in Nigeria (all times local): ___ 9:05 p.m. The departure of Nigeria's president for more medical checkups in London is renewing fears for his health in Africa's most populous country. President Muhammadu Buhari has missed three straight weekly Cabinet meetings in a row and is said to spend most of his time working from home. His office on Sunday night said 74-year-old leader had delayed leaving for London so he could meet with the 82 Chibok schoolgirls released this weekend from Boko Haram captivity. After a six-week medical leave in London earlier this year, Buhari indicated that further checkups might be needed. The exact nature of his illness is still unclear.

Damascus (AFP) - Negotiations were under way on Sunday on evacuating insurgents and their families from two districts in Damascus, a Syrian military source on the ground told AFP. If the talks are successful, this would be the first time rebels will have been evacuated from Syria's capital since the country's conflict broke out six years ago. Several evacuations of insurgents and their families have already taken place in towns and cities in Damascus province. "Negotiations are taking place between intermediaries in the Barzeh and Qabun districts and the authorities on evacuating rebels and their families," the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Evacuations from Barzeh could begin as early as Monday, the source added, without elaborating on numbers. The negotiations follow Saturday's start of a "de-escalation" process put in place by regime allies Russia and Iran and rebel-backer Turkey in four regions of Syria. Damascus is e

Paris (AFP) - Pro-European centrist Emmanuel Macron resoundingly won France's landmark presidential election, first estimates showed Sunday, heading off a fierce challenge from the far-right in a pivotal vote for the future of the divided country and Europe. The victory caps an extraordinary rise for the 39-year-old former investment banker, who will become the country's youngest-ever leader. He has promised to heal a fractured and demoralised country after a vicious campaign that has exposed deep economic and social divisions, as well as tensions around identity and immigration. Initial estimates showed Macron winning between 65.5 percent and 66.1 percent of ballots ahead of Le Pen on between 33.9 percent and 34.5 percent. Unknown three years ago, Macron is now poised to become one of Europe's most powerful leaders, bringing with him a hugely ambitious agenda of political and economic reform for France and the European Union. The result will resonate worldwide a

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has blamed Islam for the violence plaguing many African countries. The 93-year-old Mugabe was on a panel discussing fragile states at the World Economic Forum on Africa in Durban, South Africa on Thursday when he said some countries on the continent are destabilized by religious influences, News 24 reported . After stating that splits within the Christian church did not lead to violence, Mugabe said: “In the Islamic world, the belief is that the more violence you exert on the population, the more they listen. “In Africa you also had a touch of the Muslim world in some countries, but in the south it wasn’t our experience, thank God,” he said. Nearly 84.5 percent of Zimbabwe’s population of 15.6 million people  is Christian with an estimated 1 percent Muslim, according to the 2015 International Religious Freedom Report  by the U.S. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.

The supreme court has started hearing on the leadership tussle in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).   The intervention of the apex court followed an appeal filed by Ali Modu Sheriff, whom a federal high court had  declared as the authentic chairman of the party, against a suit filed by the Ahmed Makarfi-led faction, challenging the decision of the lower court. The PDP has been locked in a leadership battle since 2015. In February, a federal high court in Port Harcourt endorsed the leadership of Sheriff, but Makarfi and some members of the PDP have refused to recognise him as national chairman. They then filed an appeal at the apex court, seeking an overturning of the unfavourable judgment. Former President Goodluck Jonathan had intervened to find a political solution to the impasse, but his peace effort fell through.

Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Boko Haram's leader Abubakar Shekau has been injured and one of his deputies killed in an air strike in northeast Nigeria, civilian and security sources told AFP on Wednesday. Two Nigerian Air Force jets bombarded fighters who had gathered for prayers in Balla village, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Damboa, on the edge of the Sambisa Forest, last Friday. "Shekau was wounded in the bombings and is believed to be receiving treatment near the Nigerian border with Cameroon around Kolofata," said one source with contacts within Boko Haram. "His deputy, Abba Mustapha, alias Malam Abba, was killed in the attack along with another key lieutenant, Abubakar Gashua, alias Abu Aisha," he added. Babakura Kolo, a member of the civilian militia in the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, gave a similar account, saying "Shekau was injured and a number of commanders were killed. "Among them is his deputy called Malam Abba. They

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo led committee investigating the suspended Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, Ambassador Ayo Oke; and the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal , will submit its report to President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant to the Vice-President on Media and Publicity, revealed this in a one-paragraph statement made available to journalists. Akande said the committee chaired by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo was scheduled to complete its assignment on Wednesday.

Shanghai (AFP) - China is expected this week to conduct the maiden test flight of a home-grown passenger jet built to meet soaring domestic travel demand and challenge the dominance of Boeing and Airbus. The C919, built by state-owned aerospace manufacturer Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC), was set to take wing over Shanghai on Friday, the company said on Wednesday, according to the official Xinhua news agency. "If weather conditions are not suitable, the maiden flight will be rescheduled," COMAC said, adding that engineers had completed some 118 tests. The narrow-body jet represents nearly a decade of effort in a state-mandated drive to reduce dependence on European consortium Airbus and US aerospace giant Boeing. "The first flight itself is not a huge deal. (But) of course, it's going to be a hugely symbolic moment in the evolution of China

Banki (Nigeria) (AFP) - The Nigerianarmy calls it "New Banki City", an optimistic name conjuring up visions of modern housing. The reality is an overcrowded camp for 32,000 desperate people made homeless by Boko Haram. In this ravaged corner of northeast Nigeria, the Islamists frequently launch attacks on military convoys, unleash suicide bombers and litter the surrounding roads and arid bush with mines. Even the most mundane tasks are treacherous. Desperate for firewood to cook food, 25-year-old Bulama Zarami didn't make it far out of the camp before he triggered a mine. Shifting from side to side in pain, Zarami says he still feels shrapnel from the explosive in his wounded left leg, which is swollen at the knee and wrapped with blood-stained gauze. "With Boko Haram we face danger," Zarami told AFP. The Nigerian military rec

Update at bottom of the story. It is hard to believe this is happening, but it’s real: The US Department of Justice is literally prosecuting a woman for laughing at now–Attorney General Jeff Sessions during his Senate confirmation hearing earlier this year. According to Ryan Reilly at HuffPost , Code Pink activist Desiree Fairooz was arrested in January after she laughed at a claim from Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) that Sessions’s history of “treating all Americans equally under the law is clear and well-documented.” Sessions, in fact, has a long history of opposing the equal treatment of all Americans under the law. He has repeatedly criticized the historic Voting Rights Act. He voted against hate crime legislation that protected LGBTQ people, arguing , “Today, I'm not sure women or people with different sexual orientations face that kind of discrimination. I just don't see it.” And his nomination for a position as a federal judge was rejected in the 1980s

NASHVILLE — As evangelicals gathered here last week, expectations were high about the upcoming announcement of an administration executive order on religious liberty. But so were anxieties. Christian author Rod Dreher made no effort to hide his skepticism about President Trump. “I don’t think he cares about the thing that matters most to us, and that is religious liberty,” Dreher said from the stage. The marriage of evangelicals to Trump, Dreher added, will not end well. “I think it’s going to be a bitter harvest for us,” he said. No one seems to know what Trump’s executive order will say, because it has been so closely held by Vice President Mike Pence and a few aides. A draft version that was leaked to the Nation magazine  soon after the inauguration was broadly worded to create  “wholesale exemptions [from anti-discrimination statutes] for people and organizations who claim religious or moral objections to

By Felix Onuah ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari missed his third straight weekly cabinet meeting on Wednesday because he needed to rest, officials said, fuelling concerns about the state of his health. A Reuters reporter witnessed the start of the session and Buhari's failure to arrive for the meeting, which was chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. The 74-year-old former military ruler has hardly appeared in public since returning home in March after nearly two months' medical leave in Britain, where he underwent treatment for an unspecified illness. Information Minister Lai Mohammed said the president had been in the office on Tuesday. "He did not attend because he took today to rest," Mohammed told reporters. "All he is doing is following his doctors' advice to rest enough."

We all learn about the Civil War in history class, of course . For those of us who grew up in the South, Confederate cemeteries and monuments, among other things, are constant reminders that it didn’t happen all that long ago. When New Orleans began removing its Confederate statues recently, it caused a stir . Even in other parts of the country, Civil War re-enactors make sure Americans don’t forget the war that caused President Lincoln to write  the famous Gettysburg Address . And Civil War movies? There are so many to choose from (most of them all kinds of problematic) that we don’t know where to begin. But not all of us paid attention in history class, so in case you need a refresher, here are some things you need to know about America’s Civil War: 1 South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union.   In Charleston, South Carolina, first state to secede. Abraham Lincoln promised to end slavery if elected president, and South Carolina lawmakers warned