Furious about its government cowing to Russia and mishandling economic challenges, Ukrainian citizens have taken to the streets in record force.

They met at eight years old, married, and died together in a Ukrainian trench

Russia's economy is heavily dependent on its energy industry, and President Vladimir Putin is playing a long, complex game to combat low oil prices.

Huge crowds of antigovernment protesters Saturday encircled the Serbian state television building in downtown Belgrade to press their demand for autocratic President Aleksandar Vucic to ease his tight grip on the mainstream media and allow alternative voices. Tens of thousands of opposition supporters, some chanting slogans urging Vucic's resignation, streamed into the rain-drenched streets a day after the president's followers staged an equally big rally in the capital. Most of his supporters were bused into the capital from all over Serbia and some neighboring states. Outside the RTS TV headquarters, the crowds blew whistles and booed loudly. They say that according to the laws, state TV should be unbiased as a public broadcaster, but that it has been openly pro-government. Held for the fourth time since the early May shootings, the opposition-led protests appear to be shaping up into the biggest revolt against Vucic's autocratic rule during his over 10 years in power. The rallies initially erupted in response to two back-to-back mass shootings earlier this month that left 18 people dead and 20 wounded, many of them children from an elementary school. Other protest demands include the resignations of top officials and the revoking of licenses for pro-government media that air violent content and host crime figures and war criminals. Vucic has accused the opposition of abusing the shooting tragedy for political ends. Earlier Saturday, he stepped down from the helm of his populist party amid plans to form a wider political movement. Vucic named his close ally, Milos Vucevic, the current defense minister, as his successor. Holding umbrellas amid heavy rain Saturday, the protesters walked slowly around the RTS television building in central Belgrade, completely covering the streets in the entire area. Many held flowers in memory of the slain children and wore badges reading "vulture" or "hyena," mocking the expressions that officials used to describe the protesters. Vucic has said the new, national movement will be formed in June to include other parties, experts and prominent individuals and promote unity. Analysts say it is a bid to regroup amid mounting public pressure. Critics say the movement could lead to single-party rule, more or less as the case in Vladimir Putin's Russia, which Vucic supports. During the rally Friday, Vucic offered dialogue as he seeks ways to ease mounting public pressure. Opposition parties have pledged to press on with the demonstrations until their demands are fulfilled. They include the ouster of the interior minister and the intelligence chief; the revocation of nationwide broadcast licenses for two pro-government TV stations; and the dismissal of a media-monitoring body. "If they don't fulfill (the demands) we are not leaving from here," said Milica Tomic, a Belgrade resident. "We will be here, if it need be, every day, every week, whenever."

ABUJA, Nigeria — Armed men broke into a boarding school in northwestern Nigeria early Saturday and seized 15 children as they slept, police told The Associated Press, about 48 hours after nearly 300 students were taken hostage in the conflict-hit region. School abductions are common in Nigeria's northern region, especially since the 2014 kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls by Islamic extremists in Borno state's Chibok village shocked the world. Armed gangs have since targeted schools for kidnap ransoms, resulting in at least 1,400 abducted since then. The gunmen in the latest attack invaded the Gidan Bakuso village of the Gada council area in Sokoto state about 1 a.m. local time, police said. They headed to the Islamic school where they seized the children from their hostel before security forces could arrive, Sokoto police spokesman Ahmad Rufa'i told the AP. One woman was also abducted from the village, Rufa'i said, adding that a police tactical squad was deployed to search for the students. The inaccessible roads in the area, however, challenged the rescue operation, he said. "It is a remote village (and) vehicles cannot go there; they (the police squad) had to use motorcycles to the village," he said. Saturday's attack was the third mass kidnapping in northern Nigeria since late last week, when more than 200 people, mostly women and children, were abducted by suspected extremists in Borno state. On Thursday, 287 students were also taken hostage from a government primary and secondary school in Kaduna state. The attacks highlight a security crisis that has plagued Africa's most populous country. Kidnappings for ransom have become lucrative across Nigeria's northern region, where dozens of armed gangs operate. No group claimed responsibility for any of the abductions. While Islamic extremists who are waging an insurgency in northeastern Nigeria are suspected of carrying out the kidnapping in Borno state, locals blamed the school kidnappings on herders who had been in conflict with their host communities before taking up arms. Nigeria's Vice President Kashim Shettima, meanwhile, met with authorities and some parents of the abducted students in Kaduna state Saturday and assured them of efforts by security forces to find the children and rescue them.

DAMASAK, Nigeria — When Boko Haram launched an insurgency in northeastern Nigeria in 2010, Abdulhameed Salisu packed his bag and fled from his hometown of Damasak in the country's battered Borno state.  The 45-year-old father of seven came back with his family early last year. They are among thousands of Nigerians taken back from displacement camps to their villages, hometowns or newly built settlements known as “host communities” under a resettlement program that analysts say is being rushed to suggest the conflict with the Islamic militants is nearly over.  Across Borno, dozens of displacement camps have been shut down, with authorities claiming they are no longer needed and that most places from where the displaced fled are now safe.  But many of the displaced say it’s not safe to go back.  Boko Haram — Nigeria’s homegrown jihadis — took up arms in 2009 to fight against Western education and impose their radical version of Islamic law, or Sharia. The conflict, now Africa's longest struggle with militancy, has spilled into Nigeria's northern neighbors.  Some 35,000 civilians have been killed and more than 2 million have been displaced in the northeastern region, according to U.N. numbers. The 2014 kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls by Boko Haram in the village of Chibok in Borno state — the epicenter of the conflict — shocked the world.  Borno state alone has nearly 900,000 internally displaced people in displacement camps, with many others absorbed in local communities. So far this year, at least 1,600 civilians have been killed in militant attacks in Borno state, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, a U.S.-based nonprofit.  And in a state where at least 70% of the population depends on agriculture, dozens of farmers have also been killed by the extremists or abducted from their farmland in the last year.  In May, hundreds of hostages, mostly women and children who were held captive for months or years by Boko Haram were rescued from a forest enclave and handed over to authorities, the army said.  In September, at least 100 villagers were killed by suspected Boko Haram militants who opened fire on a market, on worshippers and in people’s homes in the Tarmuwa council area of the neighboring Yobe state, west of Borno.  Analysts say that a forced resettlement could endanger the local population as there is still inadequate security across the hard-hit region.  Salisu says he wastes away his days in a resettlement camp in Damasak, a garrison town in Borno state of about 200,000 residents, close to the border with Niger.  Food is getting increasingly difficult to come by and Salisu depends on handouts from the World Food Program and other aid organizations. He longs to find work.  “We are begging the government to at least find us a means of livelihood instead of staying idle and waiting for whenever food comes,” he said.  On a visit last week to Damasak, Cindy McCain, the WFP chief, pledged the world would not abandon the Nigerian people as she called for more funding to support her agency's aid operations.  “We are going to stay here and do the very best we can to end hunger,” McCain told The Associated Press as she acknowledged the funding shortages. “How do I take food from the hungry and give it to the starving,” she said.  Resettlement usually involves the displaced being taken in military trucks back to their villages or “host communities." The Borno state government has promised to provide returnees with essentials to help them integrate into these areas, supported by aid groups.  The government says the displacement camps are no longer sustainable.  “What we need now is ... durable solutions,” Borno governor Babagana Zulum told McCain during her visit.  As the resettlement got underway, one in five displaced persons stayed back in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, and nearby towns but were left without any support for local integration, the Global Protection Cluster, a network of non-government organizations and U.N. agencies, said last December.  Many others have crossed the border to the north, to settle as refugees in neighboring Niger, Chad or Cameroon. The three countries have registered at least 52,000 Nigerian refugees since January 2023, according to the U.N. refugee agency — nearly twice the number registered in the 22 months before that.  A rushed closure of displacement camps and forced resettlement puts the displaced people at risk again from militants still active in their home areas — or forces them to “cut deals” with jihadis to be able to farm or fish, the International Crisis Group warned in a report earlier this year.  That could make the extremists consolidate their presence in those areas, the group warned. Boko Haram, which in 2016 split into two main factions, continues to ambush security convoys and raid villages.  Abubakar Kawu Monguno, head of the Center for Disaster Risk Management at the University of Maiduguri, said the best option is for government forces to intensify their campaign to eliminate the militants or “push them to surrender.”  After not being able to access their farms because of rampant attacks by militants, some farmers in Damasak and other parts of Mobbar district returned to work their land last year, armed with seedlings provided by the government.  Salisu was one of them.  Then a major flood struck in September, collapsing a key dam and submerging about 40% of Maiduguri's territory. Thirty people were killed and more than a million others were affected, authorities said.  Farms that feed the state were ruined, including Salisu's. His hopes for a good rice harvest were washed away. Now he lines up to get food at a Damasak food hub.  “Since Boko Haram started, everything else stopped here," he said. “There is nothing on the ground and there are no jobs.”  Maryam Abdullahi also lined up at a WFP hub in Damasak with other women, waiting for bags of rice and other food items she desperately needs for her family of eight. Her youngest is 6 years old.  The donations barely last halfway through the month, she said, but she still waited in the scorching heat.  What little money she has she uses to buy yams to fry and sell to sustain her family, but it’s nowhere enough. Her only wish is to be able to get a “proper job” so she and her children would feel safe, she said.  “We either eat in the morning for strength for the rest of the day or ... we eat only at night,” Abdullahi said. 

More than 110,000 civilians are dead. More than 2 million are refugees. The United States, France and Turkey are moving closer to military intervention.

Whether driven by humanitarian aims or not, a U.S. military strike on Syria would be perceived as yet another forceful grab for regional and global hegemony.

Gowan discusses the obstacles to a peace process, including the fact that extremist rebel factions are unlikely to recognize any ceasefire arrived at in Geneva.

In its battle for regional dominance and ongoing rivalry with Shi'ite Iran, Sunni Saudi Arabia is currently involved in a number of strategic battles throughout the Middle East.

In Syria and across the Middle East, every actor embroiled in conflict is considered a terrorist by someone, making resolutions exceedingly difficult to achieve.

Despite Israel's ongoing sabotage of peace talks, Turkey continues to work toward reconciliation between theocratic rivals in the Middle East.

In this interview, MECA's Ziad Abbas discusses his organization's work to bring aid, clean water and creative outlets to Palestinian children in need.

The Western strategy of fighting warfare with warfare has only perpetuated sectarian divides, creating the very environment that fostered ISIS.

Saudi Arabia has succeeded in maintaining its market share throughout the oil bust by continuing to ratchet up production.

Sectarian warfare in Iraq and a brutal regime in Syria have led to a level of violence and chaos that is extreme even by the Middle East's standards.

The Great Mosque, in all its majestic grandeur, is less enticing if you're an American woman who somehow finds herself inside it.

The kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls should be the last straw. Nigeria must decisively end the menace of the insurgency group Boko Haram.

Hagai Yodan premieres a daring piano-tech concerto at Jerusalem’s 2024 Piano Festival.

LIVE: The 2024 General Assembly is now underway in Washington, DC, bringing together Jewish communities nationwide to confront unprecedented challenges. 

Israel showcases climate tech at COP29 but misses deeper environmental focus.

This is the first recorded sighting of an emperor penguin in Australia, experts say.

Demonstrators held flags with Nazi swastikas and reportedly chanted a pro-Donald Trump slogan.

Under Article 8 of Law No. 80, which governs the construction and restoration of churches in Egypt, the government continues to support religious institutions by aligning them with legal standards.

Messianic community leaders declared Donald Trump a "trumpet of God."

Your Jewish friends, neighbors, and co-workers undoubtedly feel unsafe at this moment, and you have an opportunity to show them they are not alone.

Russia started mass supplying its military with Zicron missiles to attempt to boost its nuclear forces.

Netanyahu urged Iranians to imagine their free lives without 'the tyrants of Tehran' in an unusual English message.

Emilia Perez tells a colorful story of cartels, gender, and redemption.

AniNation Festival brings top Israeli and global animated films to Jerusalem Cinematheque.

Bilzerian has also described Hamas as a "resistance organization" and had called its late leader Yahya Sinwar "a hero" after his death on the Piers Morgan Uncensored show.

[Premium Times] The police on Tuesday morning received a report that a bomb was allegedly planted around Murtala Way, Jos.

[Dabanga] Melbourne, Australia -- A 52-year-old man was jailed in Australia today, after he deceived his Sudanese wife into leaving Australia, and subsequently left her stranded in Sudan. A Sudanese family law expert has hailed the verdict as "a victory for women". The man, who is an Australian citizen, was charged by Australian Federal Police in 2022, under exit trafficking legislation, enacted by Australia to combat human trafficking that pivots on the departure, instead of the arrival of the victim. Neither names may be revealed for

[WFP] Geneva -- This is a summary of what was said by Chi Lael, WFP Spokesperson for Nigeria (speaking from Abuja via Zoom) - to whom quoted text may be attributed - at today's press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

[allAfrica] World Pneumonia Day is held every year on November 12. This year it focuses on events around partnerships, aiming to lower mortality rates and strengthen pandemic defenses by uniting organizations to expand access to life-saving interventions.

[Nyasa Times] Malawians across the country are feeling the weight of soaring cooking oil prices, with many struggling to make ends meet as the cost of living continues to rise. Over the past month, the price of cooking oil has surged by an average of 12%, forcing consumers to dig deeper into their pockets to purchase essential household items.

[Liberian Investigator] Monrovia -- Sources have hinted to The Liberian Investigator that the Executive Branch, through the Ministry of Finance & Development Planning, is contemplating submitting the 2025 draft national budget to the breakaway "majority bloc" in the House of Representatives later this week.

[Mastercard Foundation] Addis Ababa, Ethiopia -- Dereja, in partnership with the Ministry of Labor and Skills (MOLS) and the Mastercard Foundation, will host the 5th National Career Expo on November 6 - 7, 2024, at Millennium Hall, Addis Ababa. The event will connect over 30,000 skilled professionals to the job market.

[Ghanaian Times] The Chairperson of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Ms Kathleen Addy, has cautioned Ghanaians against hate speech as it could cause conflict in the lead-up to the General Election.

[Addis Standard] Addis Abeba -- Ethiopia's human rights record is under review today, 12 November 2024, by the United Nations Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group, marking the fourth assessment of the country's human rights practices.

[Addis Standard] Addis Abeba -- The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) presented to the UN's Human Rights Council a five-year review of press freedom in Ethiopia ahead of the United Nations Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Ethiopia at the 47th Session taking place today by the UN's Human Rights Council.

[The New Humanitarian] Bahir Dar, Amhara -- 'I have been in the jungle, struggling for my people.'