Six killed in deadly mosque explosion in Syria

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December 26, 2025

Six dead after mosque explosion in Syria — The scene of the explosion in Homs

A mosque turned to rubble: a Friday in Homs that will not be easily forgotten

On an ordinary Friday afternoon, when the call to prayer threads through the narrow lanes of Wadi al-Dahab, something ruptured in a way that will echo for a long time. A blast tore through the Ali Bin Abi Talib Mosque on Al-Khadri Street, killing six worshippers and wounding at least 21 others, Syrian authorities said. For residents here — a patchwork quarter in a city scarred by conflict — life tilted again toward fear and uncertainty.

“We were praying. Then everything went quiet, then there was a sound like thunder,” an elderly woman who lives two streets away told me, her voice trembling. “People were on the floor. I can still smell smoke.” She asked to remain anonymous, afraid of reprisals. Her words are the kind that persist: small, intimate, and unbearably human.

The immediate scene: smoke, chaos, and unanswered questions

Syria’s Interior Ministry described the incident as a “terrorist explosion” during the mid-day prayers. State media SANA published stark images: a gaping hole in a wall, blackened beams, prayer carpets strewn with books. Ambulances wailed through the streets. Neighbours peered from doorways, some with tears on their faces, others with phones held high, capturing what they could for the world to see.

Investigators are still trying to determine the exact cause. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it was not immediately clear whether the blast was a suicide attack or an explosive device. A Homs-based security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, suggested the device may have been placed inside the mosque. For now, the truth sits behind barricades and forensic gloves.

Why this place matters: Homs, memory, and fault lines

Homs has long been a city of converging histories: pre-war, it was a commercial hub of central Syria, its markets and neighborhoods thick with memory. Today, the city bears the ghost of Syria’s civil war — checkpoints, empty houses, and the scars of sectarian violence that erupted as the country fractured. While the city as a whole has a Sunni majority, several neighbourhoods are predominantly Alawite, the religious minority from which President Bashar al-Assad draws his roots.

That demographic mosaic is not academic; it has been weaponized before. The synagogue of sectarian reprisals and tit-for-tat violence reopened repeatedly during the conflict. In March of this year, coastal regions — home to many Alawite communities — witnessed mass killings. A national commission of inquiry reported at least 1,426 Alawite civilians killed during that wave of violence; the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the figure higher, at more than 1,700.

Voices from Wadi al-Dahab: fear, anger, and fragile resilience

“We are a neighborhood of prayer and tea and children running in the courtyard,” said Sheikh Omar al-Bassam, the imam at a small nearby mosque who came to offer condolences. “This attack is not just on a building. It is on the little things that hold us together.”

A local shopkeeper, Ahmed, described the scene outside the mosque in blunt, simple terms. “People opened their shops to help carry the injured. Then the sirens came. We are tired. Tired of always fearing what will happen next,” he said, hands still stained with ash.

A volunteer doctor who rushed in with a private ambulance had a different kind of weariness. “There were six bodies and more than twenty wounded,” she said. “Most of the injured were men in their 30s and 40s. We have seen these wounds before but every time it feels new.” She too asked not to be named, fearing for her safety.

Quick facts about the attack and its context

Casualties reported: 6 dead, 21 wounded.
Location: Ali Bin Abi Talib Mosque, Al-Khadri Street, Wadi al-Dahab, Homs.
Investigation status: Cause — whether suicide attack or planted device — remains under investigation by security services and monitoring groups.
Broader context: Homs has witnessed intense sectarian and armed conflict during Syria’s decade-long war; recent years have seen renewed attacks on minority communities.

What this attack reveals about a fragile peace

Attacks on places of worship are not only acts of immediate violence; they are symbolic strikes aimed at eroding trust between communities. Whether the goal is to provoke retaliation, to intimidate a minority, or to destabilize a tenuous post-war equilibrium, the psychological impact is massive. People do not just mourn the dead; they grieve the loss of normalcy.

Think about that for a moment: how does a society rebuild when the sanctuaries of daily life — mosques, schools, markets — become targets? How do neighbors resume their small kindnesses if walking to the bakery feels dangerous?

Local response, international attention, and the limits of protection

Authorities have pledged to pursue the perpetrators. “We will find those responsible and bring them to justice,” a regional official declared, speaking in a televised statement. Yet, statements rarely replace the immediate needs of survivors: medical care, trauma counseling, and the sense that their daily routines are safe again.

Humanitarian groups working in Syria warn that attacks like this complicate relief efforts and deepen mistrust. “When places of worship become battlegrounds, humanitarian access becomes more fragile,” said Leila Haddad, an analyst with a regional NGO. “Aid flows are already constrained; security incidents make vulnerable communities even harder to reach.”

Broader implications: sectarianism, displacement, and cycles of violence

Syria’s war has not been purely military; it has also been social and demographic. Attacks that single out a religious or ethnic community accelerate patterns of displacement, segregation, and the hardening of identities. Over time, neighborhoods that were once mixed become homogeneous, and memories of coexistence fade.

Those changes matter beyond Syria’s borders. They echo in the geopolitics of the region, in the policies of neighboring states, and in the stories refugees take with them into exile. They also raise questions about accountability and reconciliation: who will investigate? Who will remember?

Can healing begin here?

After the sirens have faded and investigators have gone through the ash, the work of rebuilding trust begins in small ways: a neighbor bringing tea, a volunteer helping a family rebuild broken windows, an imam offering a prayer for peace. These gestures do not erase loss, but they are the first, fragile stitches.

So I ask you, the reader: when news like this arrives as a headline, how do you respond? With a click, a scroll, a passing sympathy? Or with sustained curiosity — learning the names of neighborhoods, the histories of people, the ripple effects that reach far beyond a single street?

Incidents like the attack on the Ali Bin Abi Talib Mosque are more than moments in a news cycle. They are tests of a community’s resilience and the international community’s willingness to engage beyond slogans. If there is a lesson in Wadi al-Dahab’s rubble, it is this: peace requires more than declarations; it needs protection, investigation, and the patience to rebuild the ordinary rituals of life.

For now, Homs waits. It counts its dead, tends its wounded, and holds its breath — while the rest of the world watches and wonders what comes next.

Turkiga, Masar iyo Jabuuti oo ka hor-yimid Aqoonsiga Israel ee Somaliland

By

aden

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December 26, 2025

Dec 26(Jowhar)-Dawladdaha Soomaaliya, Masar, Turkiga iyo Jabuuti ayaa si wadajir ah u cambaareeyay tallaabada ay Israel ku sheegtay inay ku aqoonsatay Somaliland, iyaga oo ku tilmaamay mid aan gabi ahaanba la aqbali karin isla markaana xadgudub ku ah midnimada, madaxbannaanida iyo wadajirka Jamhuuriyadda Federaalka Soomaaliya.

War-saxaafadeed ay si wadajir ah u soo saareen Wasiirada Arrimaha Dibadda dalalkan ayaa lagu adkeeyay in tallaabadan ay ka hor imanayso xeerarka caalamiga ah, isla markaana ay khatar ku tahay xasilloonida iyo amniga Geeska Afrika.

Dhanka kale, Madaxweynaha Jamhuuriyadda Federaalka Soomaaliya, Xasan Sheekh Maxamuud, ayaa wadahadal taleefan la yeeshay hoggaamiyayaasha dalalkan, isagoo uga warramay halista amni iyo siyaasadeed ee ka dhalan karta arrintan, islamarkaana wuxuu adkeeyay baahida loo qabo isku-duwid iyo mowqif mideysan oo looga hortago tallaabo kasta oo wax u dhimaysa qarannimada Soomaaliya.

Hoggaamiyayaasha Masar, Turkiga iyo Jabuuti ayaa muujiyay taageero buuxda oo ay u hayaan midnimada dhuleed iyo madaxbannaanida Soomaaliya, iyagoo ballan qaaday inay sii wadi doonaan dadaallada diblomaasiyadeed ee lagu difaacayo danaha Qaranka Soomaaliyeed.

Arrintan ayaa imaneysa xilli xaaladda gobolka ay aad u nugushahay, taasoo ka dhigaysa arrintan mid si dhow isha loogu hayo.

Israel oo sheegtay iney Aqoonsatay Somaliland

By

aden

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December 26, 2025

Dec 26(Jowhar)-Israel ayaa si rasmi ah u aqoonsatay madaxbannaanida Jamhuuriyadda Somaliland, sida lagu sheegay warsaxaafadeed maanta oo ay taariikhdu tahay 26.12.2025.

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Zelensky Says ‘Very Good’ U.S. Talks Advance Deal to End War

By

hanad

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December 26, 2025

Zelensky has 'very good' talks with US on deal to end war — Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked US President Donald Trump's envoys for their 'intensive work'

When Diplomacy and Destruction Meet: A Night of Missiles, Meetings and Fragile Hope

There are moments when the world feels split in two: one half bent over negotiation tables, the other lit by the orange glow of distant fires. Last week offered exactly that uncomfortable duality — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sitting down, in essence, with envoys dispatched by the White House’s inner circle, while across the border Ukrainian forces struck deep into Russian energy hubs.

“We had very good conversations,” Zelensky posted, the words clipped but hopeful, speaking of talks with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner — envoys representing U.S. interests and a determination, by all accounts, to wring an end to what he called “this brutal Russian war.” He thanked them for “constructive approach, intensive work, and kind words.” It was the kind of message that reads like a bargaining chip: public optimism, private pressure.

Behind closed doors — and on screens

The envoys’ visit and the discussions they reportedly had with Ukrainian negotiators are part of a broader, painstaking process. Kyiv says it and Washington agreed on a draft 20-point plan outlining a pathway toward peace; Russia is now reviewing that text. Zelensky acknowledged that not everything in the draft was to his liking, but celebrated some important deletions — notably any immediate requirement for Ukrainian withdrawal from parts of Donetsk or formal recognition of Moscow’s territorial gains.

“These are small victories in a very large war,” said one Kyiv-based diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Removing the immediate withdrawal clauses is crucial. It buys Ukraine time and preserves options.” Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s chief negotiator, is expected to continue talks with the U.S. envoys, an acknowledgment that this is a marathon, not a sprint.

Not everyone, though, sees papyrus as peace. Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, framed talks with the United States as “slow but steady progress” — a diplomatic phrase that can mean many things. She also accused Western European states of trying to “torpedo the process,” and urged Washington to counteract these spoilers.

Explosions miles away: warfare and the economics of conflict

While diplomats shuffled paper, Ukrainian forces reportedly launched British-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles and long-range domestic drones against several Russian oil and gas facilities. The Ukrainian General Staff reported a strike on the Novoshakhtinsk refinery in Rostov; Russian regional authorities reported fires after drone hits at the port of Temryuk in Krasnodar. Ukraine’s security service said a gas-processing plant in Orenburg — some 1,400km from the Ukrainian border — was also targeted.

“Multiple explosions were recorded. The target was hit,” the General Staff wrote on Telegram. Images and videos circulating on social media showed columns of black smoke, firefighters silhouetted against roaring flames — the kind of images that strip diplomacy of its soothing veneer.

Why the refinery? Because energy is not just infrastructure; it is cash. International analysts have long pointed to oil and gas revenues as vital for Moscow’s war machine. Hydrocarbons have historically supplied a substantial share of federal revenues — often estimated in the low-to-mid tens of percent. Cutting that tap, Kyiv reasons, could blunt Russia’s capacity to sustain operations.

Night-watchers, villagers and soldiers

On the ground, ordinary people mark these strategies with a mix of resignation and defiance. “We woke up to the sound of sirens and then the smell of smoke,” said Olga, a nurse in a small town near Rostov, voice tight with exhaustion. “We don’t talk politics here; we talk about how to get the kids out if the house burns.” A Russian refinery worker, speaking to a regional news outlet, described a “harrowing” night as crews fought flames. “We are not soldiers. We are mothers, fathers, sons,” he said.

On the Ukrainian side, a junior officer in the air force who asked to be identified only by first name, Dmytro, said: “Every target is chosen because it sustains the enemy’s ability to fight. We don’t celebrate the fires. We calculate.” His words carried the weary resolve of someone living inside a calculus of survival.

Border jitters in Europe: balloons, jets and a frayed security tapestry

Elsewhere this week, Poland scrambled jets to escort a Russian reconnaissance plane seen near Polish airspace over the Baltic Sea. At the same time, dozens of objects reportedly crossed into Polish airspace from Belarus overnight — some were identified as likely smuggling balloons. Polish authorities warned the incidents, occurring during the holiday season, could be provocations.

“The mass nature and timing of these incursions make it hard to call them accidental,” said a Polish border official. “There’s a pattern of pressure along NATO’s eastern flank.” Vilnius, too, has reported smuggler balloons disrupting air traffic in recent months — incidents it characterizes as a “hybrid attack” by Belarus, which denies responsibility.

For Polish villagers near the Belarusian frontier these events are not abstract. “We keep our children inside when the drones come,” said Marta, who runs a small grocer’s in a border town. “In the winter, we cannot assume safety.” This is the small-scale human terrain where geopolitics becomes daily fear.

The human ledger: counting costs — and doing the math

The exact human toll of the war remains contested, but independent estimates — and the daily witness of hospitals, refugee centers and bereaved families — point to tens of thousands of lives upended. Millions more have been displaced inside Ukraine or forced to seek shelter abroad. Every broken refinery, every flicker of black smoke, translates into lost jobs, disrupted logistics and further displacement.

As for the peace process itself, the questions multiply. How do you negotiate with a state that insists on territorial concessions as precondition? How can mediators ensure any agreement is verifiable and durable? And what role will external powers play when their own domestic politics are often part of the calculation?

What happens next — and why you should care

For the rest of the world, this is not a distant dispute. It is a test of whether diplomacy can coexist with deterrence, whether economic tools — sanctions, gas-price politics — can be made to count, and whether war-era innovations like long-range drones will rewrite the rules of conflict. It is also a humanitarian challenge: winter is coming each year in this war zone, and civilian needs remain stark.

“Peace is not a single document,” an international relations scholar told me. “It’s a tapestry of guarantees, verification mechanisms, and most importantly, political will. You can draft a plan in any capital, but implementation requires states to accept short-term pain for long-term stability.” That, he shrugged, is the trickiest currency of all.

So what should you watch for? Look for follow-up talks involving Rustem Umerov and the U.S. envoys, for any Russian response to the 20-point plan, and for further kinetic activity around energy infrastructure. Listen to voices on the ground: whether in Kyiv, Rostov, Temryuk, Maikop or the small towns along Belarus’s border, because they will be the ones to live with any peace — or any continued war.

And finally, ask yourself: if diplomacy is to succeed, how much discomfort are countries prepared to absorb today to prevent another decade of devastation tomorrow? The answer will shape not just a region, but a world increasingly connected by energy, weapons, and the fragile hope that talks can matter. Will they?

Midowga Yurub, Faransiiska iyo Jarmalka oo cambaareeyay Mamnuucidda Fiisaha Mareykanka oo ah Faaf-reeb

By

hanad

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December 26, 2025

Dec 26(Jowhar)- Midowga Yurub, Faransiiska iyo Jarmalka ayaa dhammaantood si xooggan u cambaareeyay go’aankii dhawaan Mareykanka uu ku mamnuucay fiisooyinka qaar ee mas’uuliyiinta Shiinaha oo ku saabsanaa caburinta Shiinaha ee xorriyadda hadalka iyo xuquuqda kale ee Hong Kong.

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Mareykanka ayaa duqeymo u geystay dagaalyahannada Daacish ee waqooyi-galbeed Nigeria

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hanad

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December 26, 2025

Mareykanka ayaa duqeymo u geystay dagaalyahannada Daacish ee waqooyi-galbeed Nigeria

Dec 26(Jowhar)-Mareykanka ayaa duqeymo ka geystay dagaalyahannada Daacish ee waqooyi-galbeed Nigeria, si loola dagaallamo khatarta sii kordheysa ee argagixisada ee gobolka.

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Israel says criticism of new West Bank settlements is unjustified

By

hanad

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December 26, 2025

Condemnation of new West Bank settlements wrong - Israel — A deserted mosque in the settlement of Sa-Nur, south of Jenin, in the occupied West Bank

On the Edge of an Olive Grove: How a Cabinet Decision Reopened a Wound

There is a kind of silence that arrives before the first birdsong in the villages of the West Bank—soft, expectant, threaded with the smell of damp earth and crushed olives. It is here, beneath terraces that have belonged to families for generations, that the abstract language of geopolitics suddenly finds a human voice: the farmer who cannot reach his grove because of a new road, the mother who counts the children at checkpoints, the neighbor who listens for the engines of bulldozers.

Recently, that silence was broken not by machinery but by ink: Israel’s cabinet approved the creation of 11 new settlements and formalized eight more in the occupied West Bank. The move—heralded by some Israeli officials as a matter of security and identity—was met by a sharp international rebuke. Fourteen Western countries, including Ireland, Britain, France, Germany, Spain and Canada, issued a joint statement condemning what they called a unilateral action that violates international law. Ireland’s foreign minister, Helen McEntee, was among those to sign the diplomatic protest.

“A moral line has been crossed,” said a diplomat

“These are not mere administrative adjustments,” one European diplomat told me on background. “They chip away at the possibility of a two-state solution in ways that are irreversible.”

From Jerusalem, the Israeli government pushed back. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar argued fiercely that external players had no right to dictate where Jews live. “Foreign governments will not restrict the right of Jews to live in the land of Israel, and any such call is morally wrong and discriminatory against Jews,” he said, placing the move in moral and historical terms. And in the corridors of power, the far-right finance minister framed the settlements as a bulwark against a future Palestinian state.

Two Realities, One Landscape

The numbers are stark. Since the 1967 war, Israel has maintained control over the West Bank. Excluding east Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israelis now live in settlements there, while roughly three million Palestinians call the same territory home. These figures are more than statistics—they map onto olive groves, playgrounds, small factories, and the intertwined daily rhythms of two peoples whose lives are separated by walls, laws, and narratives.

International organisations have been watching this expansion for years. The United Nations reported that settlement expansion reached its highest level in recent years—higher than at any point since at least 2017. For many legal experts, the issue is clear-cut: under long-established international law, the transfer of an occupying power’s civilian population into occupied territory is prohibited. For many Israeli politicians, who draw on historical memory and security anxieties, the insistence that these areas are off-limits resonates as an existential threat.

On the ground: voices of worry and defiance

Walk the dusty lanes near a small Palestinian town and you will hear a range of reactions. “They put up a sign last week saying the road is ‘state land,’” says Ahmad, a man in his fifties who has tended his family’s plot since childhood. “How can a line on paper make my trees disappear from my hands? My grandchildren play under those trees.”

On the other side, an Israeli settler in a newly formalised community speaks through a different lens. “We don’t come here to take, we come to build,” she told me. “This land is part of our story. We are not the enemy.”

Between these two perspectives sits an uneasy truth: every new housing block, every zoning regulation, shifts the balance—practically and psychologically—away from a shared future and toward greater separation.

Why the World Reacted — and Why Israel Calls It Discriminatory

The joint statement from the 14 countries warned that such unilateral actions “violate international law” and risk destabilising a fragile ceasefire that has been in place since 10 October. For many in Europe and North America, the settlements are a tangible obstacle to the vision of two democratic states living side-by-side in peace and security. Governments reiterated their “unwavering commitment to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace” rooted in that two-state idea.

Inside Israel, however, the language of international law is often countered by memory and security. “When we talk to communities that have endured violence,” a senior Israeli official said, “there is a legitimate demand for secure, defensible borders and for areas that preserve Jewish life.” To opponents of the international rebuke, the criticism smacks of double standards and — in the words of some Israeli leaders — discrimination against Jews when they seek to live in what they regard as historic lands.

Experts weigh in

“This is a classic case of policy producing hard facts on the ground,” says Dr. Sara Mendel, an international law scholar I spoke with. “Over time, households built, roads paved, and institutions established become entrenched. That makes reversing course less likely and the diplomatic options narrower.”

Another analyst offered a warning with a historian’s cadence: “Settlements have always been more than architecture. They’re political statements. Each new neighborhood changes expectations and, in turn, policy.”

Bigger Questions: Security, Identity, and the Shape of a Future Peace

This decision is not a single event; it is a symptom. It raises urgent questions about what security means in contested landscapes—whether security is best achieved through separation or through political compromise. It raises questions about identity, too: who has the right to live where, and on what historical or legal grounds are those rights defended?

And it points to a broader global pattern: when entrenched disputes meet assertive populist politics, small policy choices can become tectonic. How do external actors respond? Should diplomatic pressure, economic incentives, and legal argument be enough? Or does the reality on the ground simply outpace the best-laid plans?

What might come next?

More diplomatic friction between Israel and Western allies.
Increased legal challenges and UN scrutiny of settlement activity.
Local tensions that could inflame security incidents, undermining any fragile ceasefires.

None of these outcomes are inevitable. But they are real possibilities—unless political leaders choose, with courage and imagination, a different path.

Leaving the Reader with a Question

As you read these words, imagine standing beneath that olive tree with Ahmad, feeling the rough bark in your palm. Whose claim looks more convincing then? Which future feels more humane? The answers will depend, in part, on how the international community, Israeli leaders, Palestinian voices, and ordinary people choose to act in the coming months.

For now, the groves keep their quiet. The world watches. And the debate over land, law and the right to belong continues, branch by branch, decision by decision, until a different kind of future is chosen.

United States launches strikes on ISIS militants in northwest Nigeria

By

hanad

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December 26, 2025

US strikes Islamic State militants in northwest Nigeria — The strike was confirmed by President Donald Trump and the US military

Under the Same Night Sky: A Strike, a State, and the Quiet Work of War

It was not thunder that rolled over Sokoto that night but a distant, mechanical roar — a shot fired not from the soil of northwest Nigeria, but from beyond its horizon. Villagers later described a bright streak slicing the heavens and a tremor in the dust underfoot. For many, it was another jolt in a long, bad year. For others it was, at least for the moment, a line drawn against the violence that has hollowed out communities across vast swathes of the country.

The United States, at the behest of Abuja, carried out an air strike against militants linked to the Islamic State in northwest Nigeria, U.S. and Nigerian officials said. Washington framed the operation as a precision strike aimed at degrading fighters who had been blamed for a wave of attacks on civilians. Nigeria’s foreign ministry called it a coordinated move in an ongoing security partnership — the latest chapter in a complicated, often fraught counter‑insurgency story.

What Happened

According to military sources, the strike targeted suspected IS-affiliated camps in Sokoto state. A video released by the Pentagon showed a projectile streaking from a naval platform. U.S. Africa Command described the hits as “precision” and said multiple militants were killed. Nigeria’s foreign minister said the operation was a “joint” one, carried out with intelligence shared by Abuja.

“This has been planned for quite some time,” a Nigerian foreign ministry statement read, emphasizing that the operation was aimed at “terrorists” rather than adherents of any faith. A U.S. defense official added that strikes followed weeks of intelligence‑gathering flights over parts of the country.

Voices from the Ground

Out in the markets of Sokoto, conversation moved between relief and wariness. “We heard the sound late, we saw the light,” said Amina Idris, a market trader who fled her village three years ago after a militia attack. “People are tired. We want safety for our children. But then, who stays to protect us tomorrow?”

An elder in a nearby town, who asked that his name not be used for fear of reprisals, was blunt. “Foreign planes come, bombs fall, and sometimes it feels like the world treats our suffering like a chessboard,” he said. “If these strikes keep fighters from taking another village, then so be it. But we have been ignored for years.”

Security analysts note the fragile calculus here. “External strikes can be a force‑multiplier for local security forces,” said Dr. Chinedu Okafor, a Lagos-based expert on insurgency. “But they are not a cure. Without local governance, humanitarian support, and credible policing, the vacuum will be filled again.”

A Fractured Narrative: Who Is Being Targeted?

Domestic politics and religious narratives have complicated public perception. President Donald Trump — who has increasingly framed the violence in Nigeria as an existential threat to Christian communities — announced on social media that he had ordered the strike, calling it a response to assaults he described as particularly brutal.

Nigerian officials and many observers caution against a simplistic religious framing. Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, Nigeria’s foreign minister, told international outlets the operation targeted “terrorists,” not a faith group, and that victims of armed groups in Nigeria are both Muslims and Christians. The country’s population, split roughly between Muslims in the north and Christians in the south, has long been vulnerable to identity politics that militants exploit.

“Militant groups in Nigeria have evolved,” explained Aisha Bello, a human-rights worker in Abuja. “There are assassinations, village raids, kidnappings for ransom, and clashing local dynamics — land disputes, cattle farming, banditry — that get folded into broader extremist narratives. To say one side only is targeted is to ignore the complexity on the ground.”

Context: Decades of Conflict, Millions Displaced

Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation — home to about 220 million people — and its security landscape is a patchwork. The northeast has been ravaged for more than a decade by Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), which together have killed and displaced tens of thousands and uprooted millions. In the northwest and central belt, banditry and communal violence have added another layer of grief, with mass kidnappings and attacks leaving villages empty.

Last week, a suspected suicide bombing at a mosque in the northeast killed at least five people and wounded dozens more — a grim reminder that violence is neither distant nor contained. President Bola Tinubu used his holiday message to appeal for religious peace, promising to protect “Christians, Muslims, and all Nigerians from violence.”

Why America Is Involved

U.S. involvement is not new. For years, American forces have provided training, intelligence support, surveillance, and logistics to partner nations across West Africa. In recent months, the presence of U.S. reconnaissance flights and intelligence assets over parts of Nigeria has increased, officials say, as Washington seeks to blunt threats to Americans and to regional stability.

“We’re responding to a request from a sovereign government,” a U.S. defense official said. “These are targeted strikes, designed to limit the operational capabilities of extremist groups and reduce the threat to civilians.” The official, speaking on background, added, “We’re not seeking permanent basing or boots on the ground beyond advisory and intelligence roles.”

Local Color and Long Shadows

Sokoto is a land of sun-warmed clay and centuries-old history — once the seat of a powerful caliphate, with mosques and palaces that still thread the skyline. Traders braid dates and spices on woven mats. Camels tediously cross dusty trade routes; children spin around ancient wells. Yet the same soil has been the scene of sudden violence, burnt compounds and families on the move.

“I miss the sound of our market — the bargaining, the laughter,” said Musa, a farmer now camping on the outskirts of town. “You wake up thinking about your crops, then a message comes: don’t go to the field. You plan your day around fear.”

The Bigger Questions

Is kinetic action enough? Can strikes — however precise — dislodge ideologies and the local grievances that fuel recruitment? Or will the latest intervention become, for many, another temporary reprieve in a cycle of violence?

There are no easy answers. Experts stress that military tactics must be paired with political solutions: land reforms, reconciliation processes, economic development, and support for local justice mechanisms. “Security is a composite,” Dr. Okafor said. “You cannot bomb your way to governance.”

What to Watch Next

Whether Nigeria and the U.S. carry out follow‑up operations and how those are framed domestically.
Humanitarian conditions in the affected areas — whether civilians are displaced and what aid reaches them.
How local leaders and traditional institutions are engaged in stabilization efforts.

Closing: A Shared Horizon

Across oceans and lines of command, decisions were made that night that ripple into villagers’ lives. A missile’s distant light can mean the end of an immediate threat — or the beginning of new displacements, new grievances. The people I spoke with in Sokoto asked for one thing, plainly: the chance to sleep without fear.

That request — simple, profound — is a test of international cooperation and of Nigerian governance alike. It asks whether fleeting moments of military success can be translated into sustained safety, whether global powers and local communities can stitch a durable peace from the same frayed cloth.

What do we, as readers and global citizens, imagine in response? Do we see a roadmap that ties protection to justice and development? Or do we accept snapshots of relief that leave the long story unchanged?

The night sky in Sokoto will clear and cloud again. The people there — farmers, traders, elders — will keep watch. So must the rest of us, not only for the drama of strikes and headlines, but for the slow, necessary work of rebuilding lives after the noise fades.

Authorities uncover over one million additional potential Jeffrey Epstein documents

By

hanad

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December 25, 2025

Discovery of a million more potential Epstein documents — Jeffrey Epstein in one of the images released by the US Department of State on 20 December

A Million Papers, One Pause: Inside the New Pause in the Epstein File Releases

On a gray December morning in Manhattan, the courthouse steps felt unusually crowded with a different kind of foot traffic — not the usual lawyers and tourists, but reporters with steaming coffee, advocates clutching folders, and neighbours peering out from behind bus windows. News had broken overnight: federal prosecutors and the FBI had handed the Department of Justice more than a million additional documents that might touch the long, tangled web around financier Jeffrey Epstein. The result: a pause in a release the country had been promised, and a small national crisis about how much the public should know — and how much must remain private.

What happened — in plain terms

The Justice Department confirmed that the Southern District of New York and the FBI turned over what officials called “mass volumes” of material tied to investigations into Epstein, his associates, and the networks alleged to have enabled his crimes. The transfer came after Congress — Republicans and Democrats together — passed a law forcing the release of files by a set deadline. But the influx of more than a million pages of newly identified documents meant a deadline could not be met without sacrificing victims’ privacy, the DOJ said.

“We have lawyers working around the clock to review and make the legally required redactions to protect victims, and we will release the documents as soon as possible,” a Justice Department spokesperson told reporters. “Due to the mass volume of material, this process may take a few more weeks.”

A familiar but painful backdrop

For those following the Epstein story, this is not a new scene. Epstein was arrested in July 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges; he died in custody that August. His name is tied to a sidelong catalogue of wealth, power and alleged abuse. The public release of documents related to his case, ordered recently by federal lawmakers, was supposed to pull back the curtain on how investigations were handled and who was involved. Instead, much of what has been released so far has come with thick black bars — redactions that have infuriated both critics of the administration and those who feel the system should shield victims.

“People want answers. Victims want acknowledgement,” said a Manhattan-based victim advocate who asked not to be named. “But they don’t want their trauma paraded in public. That’s the grief here: transparency versus dignity.”

Redactions, deadlines and political pressure

The law fast-tracked by Congress required documents to be made public, with allowances to redact intimate or identifying details to protect victims. But lawmakers also put a hard date on the release — and political operatives on both sides of the aisle quickly turned the file dump into fodder for power politics. Republicans criticized the White House for protecting allies; Democrats accused the administration of delaying justice. The result was a national tug-of-war played out in courtrooms, congressional offices and on cable news.

“The American people have a right to know the truth,” said one Republican member of Congress on a morning broadcast. “But we also have a duty not to traumatize those who were harmed.”

Yet the most immediate, practical stumbling block is not politics alone: it’s sheer scale. Millions of pages of documents — emails, investigative notes, phone records, witness statements — must be combed, names checked, identities shielded where appropriate. That is painstaking, tedious, human work that doesn’t respond well to political deadlines.

Voices from the street: how the city is feeling

Outside the courthouse, the conversation ranged from weary cynicism to raw hope. On a side street near Foley Square, a café owner who has seen plenty of protests over the years described the scene in earthy terms.

“People keep coming in asking, ‘Did you see the new stuff?’” she said, wiping a counter. “Everyone wants the truth, but nobody wants to be the spectacle.”

A retired NYPD detective, sipping tea on a bench, added, “I’ve worked cases that were shorter than these files look. The problem is, when powerful people are involved, files get complicated. Not all of it is cover-up; some is just bureaucracy. But it feeds suspicion.”

Experts weigh in

Legal scholars and civil liberties advocates say this episode illustrates deeper tensions in how democracies handle mass disclosures: the public’s right to information versus the individual’s right to privacy. “We have to remember the legal standard,” said a law professor who studies criminal procedure. “Victim privacy is not optional. Federal statutes and court rules require it. The solution is not to steamroll protections in the name of expediency.”

At the same time, the professor warned of the political risk of repeated redactions. “When government repeatedly releases heavily redacted documents, it erodes trust. People assume there’s something to hide, whether there is or not.”

Numbers that matter

Some context to ground the debate: the newly reported trove amounts to more than one million documents. The release law demanded an initial public accounting by December 19, but the DOJ now says the review will take weeks longer. Earlier batches of released files — those processed before the newly found documents surfaced — contained extensive redactions that many observers described as obstructive rather than protective.

Meanwhile, the broader implications are stark. Epstein’s case touched international jurisdictions, private islands, jet logs, and sprawling networks of alleged abuse; investigators had pursued leads in multiple countries. What is finally revealed — and what remains shielded — will shape public perception of both past investigative choices and of institutional accountability for years to come.

Victims and advocates: the emotional ledger

For survivors and their allies, the stakes are not abstract. “This is about names that were erased from their lives by fear and coercion,” said a survivor who has spoken publicly about abuse. “We don’t want our pain turned into political theater, but we want the true scale of what happened acknowledged. Redactions can protect privacy. But they’ve also been used to protect reputation.”

Advocates have called for an independent review — not merely by the agencies that handled the investigations — arguing that only a transparent, third-party audit can restore faith in the system.

Why this matters beyond Manhattan

Ask yourself: why should someone in Lagos, in Lisbon, in Lagos, or in Lima care about a new mountain of documents filed in New York? Because the Epstein story is not just a local scandal. It is an indictment of global inequality — where wealth buys access, and secrecy can become a form of immunity. It raises uncomfortable questions about power, accountability and how transnational networks exploit gaps in law enforcement cooperation. As governments around the world reckon with their own scandals, the way the U.S. handles these files will become a model — for good or ill.

“This isn’t just about one man,” said a human rights lawyer who has worked on transnational trafficking cases. “It’s about systems that allowed abuse to persist. Governments must make victims central, but they must also communicate clearly with the public. A rush to secrecy erodes trust everywhere.”

Looking forward: what to watch

Expect the coming weeks to be dominated by three tensions: the pace of the DOJ’s redaction work; political attempts to shape public interpretation of whatever gets released; and legal challenges from parties seeking to block or broaden disclosure. Watch also for independent journalists and nonprofit organizations to sift through what becomes available — they will play a crucial role in translating thousands of pages into narratives the wider world can understand.

For now, on a chilly New York afternoon, the courthouse felt suspended between two kinds of time: the slow, meticulous time of investigators and the impatient, relentless time of public demand. Which clock will win out? That is a question not just for Washington but for anyone who believes a democracy must be accountable to the people it serves.

When the files finally emerge, will they bring closure, more questions, or both? Stay curious. Stay critical. And remember: the pursuit of truth can be messy, but silence is seldom the cure.

Pope Dies During Jubilee Year; Cardinals Elect New Pontiff

By

hanad

-

December 25, 2025

Jubilee year sees death of pope, election of successor — Newly-elected Pope Leo XIV addresses the crowd overlooking St Peter's Square on 8 May 2025

A Year That Began with Hope and Ended with an Empty Chair

On a cold, star-scraped Christmas Eve in 2024, a hush fell over St Peter’s Square as Pope Francis pushed open the Holy Door of St Peter’s Basilica. Lanterns shook in the wind. Pilgrims craned their necks. The act was meant to be an invitation — a year of renewal, a Jubilee of Hope, a collective exhale for a Church hungry for mercy, repair and service.

There is an old Roman saying that faith looks best in the street: in the faces of people clustered on cobbled alleys, clutching candles, trading the busyness of life for a moment of intersection with the sacred. That night, a young volunteer from Lima, her scarf knotted to ward off the cold, told me, “We came for hope. Not as a poster, but as something we can hold.”

When the Shepherd Fell Ill

Hope, it turned out, would be tested early in the Jubilee year. In February, Pope Francis — who had become, for many, the image of a softer papacy — was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital with pneumonia. The medical bulletins were clinical. The chatter in cafés and sacristies was not.

Five weeks later, he came back to a Vatican that seemed both relieved and fragile. Hospital staff described at times how “touch and go” his condition had been. Doctors urged a long convalescence; an 88‑year‑old pontiff was advised to rest for months. He rested briefly, but never for long.

His last public engagement was emblematic: Easter Sunday, 25 April, St Peter’s Square heavy with pilgrims. Frail but steady, he mounted the popemobile and delivered the Urbi et Orbi blessing. He made a slow loop among the crowd — a final, intimate gesture to people who had followed his emphasis on outreach to the poor and the marginalised.

That evening, he clasped the hand of his nurse, Massimiliano Strappetti, and thanked him for seeing him to the square. At dawn the next day, a sudden illness came like a winter storm. Vatican officials later said he did not suffer long. “It was quick,” a nurse told local reporters; “he had a moment to say goodbye.”

The World Paused

When the Holy Father died on Easter Monday, the symbolism was impossible to ignore. A Jubilee intended to celebrate life and renewal had, in its early months, been bookended by mourning.

Condolences poured in from capitals and parish houses alike. Religious leaders praised a pope who had made the poor and the planet central themes of his pontificate. In Dublin, President Michael D. Higgins — a frequent interlocutor on issues from global hunger to climate justice — described the late pontiff’s “warmth and humility,” words echoed by hundreds who filed past the modest wooden casket placed in St Peter’s Basilica.

Among the sea of mourners were pilgrims from Ireland, Philippines, Brazil, and parts beyond. A Dublin grandmother, pushing a pram, said simply, “He made us feel small mistakes were still forgiven.” Around 250,000 people paid respects, many leaving handwritten notes between the slats of the coffin — a raw, communal liturgy of grief.

Diplomacy in a Basilica

Even funerals are sites of geopolitics. Photos of two world leaders — the U.S. president and the Ukrainian president — deep in conversation inside the Basilica split the news cycle. For a moment, beneath mosaics that have watched centuries, the world’s aches converged: war, asylum, hunger, power. “It was a meeting of two histories,” said a veteran Vatican diplomat. “Places of mourning often become stages for the living to make new claims.”

From Mourning to the Sistine Ceiling: The Conclave

The College of Cardinals retired behind conclave doors against a backdrop of turbulent expectations. Under Francis, cardinals from the Global South and pastoral shepherds had won prominence, and many expected that the next leader would extend that embrace.

Still, few predicted the outcome when, after a swift and unexpectedly decisive two-day ballot, an Augustinian American cardinal emerged as Pope Leo XIV. The election of Cardinal Robert Prevost — a man who had worked extensively in pastoral and diplomatic posts — was a surprise that also felt like a bridge: continuity in spirit, fresh leadership in style.

“The cardinals were looking for calm,” said Fr Paul Finnerty, rector of the Irish College in Rome, who had known the new pope for years. “Someone who could walk gently but speak clearly.”

The Voice of Pope Leo XIV

Pope Leo XIV’s first words, offered from the balcony to St Peter’s Square, were plain: “Peace be with you all.” The phrase landed like a benediction in a world that seems hungrier for concord than ever.

He has been described as measured, diplomatic and pastoral — a man who prefers conversation to confrontation. Early in his tenure he authorised the publication of a Vatican commission report on women deacons that concluded historical and theological grounds did not yet support ordination. That decision drew both weary sighs and calls for renewed study. “Not a flat refusal,” one cleric said; “more a challenge to keep looking.”

On hot-button social questions, he has been cautious. Asked about inclusion of LGBTQ+ people in the Church, he signalled fidelity to existing teaching while urging pastoral sensitivity. On migration — a topic that animated one of his earliest public statements as pope — he acknowledged states’ rights to control borders but urged humane treatment for people in detention, calling for systems that uphold dignity.

Appointments, a New Tone

Pope Leo’s episcopal appointments have been telling. In the United States, he named Bishop Aldon Ronald Hicks — a Latin America‑seasoned American — as Archbishop of New York, signalling pastoral credentials for a traditionally influential seat. In England and Wales, Bishop Richard Moth’s appointment to Westminster suggested a focus on stability and outreach.

Back in August, the beatification of Carlo Acutis, a 15‑year‑old who died of leukemia in 2006, drew surprising numbers of young people to the Vatican — a visible reminder that the Church’s future may well be shaped by a new generation. A late‑2024 Bible Society/YouGov poll of 13,146 adults even reported that among churchgoers aged 18–34, Catholics now outnumber Anglicans — a demographic shift that should give bishops and parishes much to consider.

Bridges East and West

Pope Leo’s first international journey to Turkey and Lebanon emphasized reunion and dialogue. Visiting sites linked to the Council of Nicaea and sitting at tables with Orthodox counterparts, he cast his pontificate as an effort to mend ancient rifts — East and West, altar and table.

Closer to home, a historic shared prayer with Anglican leaders and King Charles and Queen Camilla signalled a willingness to lean into ecumenism. In the press, it was easy to read these gestures as diplomatic theatre — but for many on the ground they felt like small, steady acts of reconciliation.

What Comes Next?

Pope Leo XIV has published his first apostolic exhortation, Dilexi te — a document started by his predecessor and finished under his hand. It asks the Church to keep its eyes on the poor and the marginalised; it was received warmly by charities such as the St Vincent de Paul Society. Yet the road ahead is long.

Important anniversaries loom: Catholic Emancipation’s bicentenary in 2029, a global commemoration of two millennia since the death and resurrection of Christ in 2033, and in Ireland, a 1,500‑year mark of Christianity’s arrival in 2032. Could the new pope come to Ireland then? Archbishop Eamon Martin’s office says an invitation remains open.

So here is my question to you: in an era of climate anxiety, migration crises and deep cultural divides, what do you want from a global Church? Do you want a steady bureaucrat, a prophetic voice, or a pastor who sits on the street and listens? Pope Leo XIV’s early months suggest he aspires to be a bridge-builder. Time will tell whether bridges hold when storms come.

For now, in the cafés of Rome and in parish halls from Buenos Aires to Belfast, people are still trading stories about that last blessing, that wooden coffin, that balcony blessing. They are still asking how a worldwide community of 1.3 billion Catholics — diverse, disputed, devout — will find pathways to mercy in a fractious world. The Jubilee of Hope began as a door thrown open. The real work, as always, is walking through it.