Russia eyes stronger, sensitive security ties with African countries
Russia says it will deepen ties with African countries, including in sensitive areas like defence and security.
Russia intends to strengthen relations with African countries, focusing on defense, security, and economic collaboration.
The Wagner Group has withdrawn from Mali, but the Kremlin-backed Africa Corps will continue operations in the West African country.
The development aligns with Russia's broader strategy of expanding its presence in nations like Central African Republic and Equatorial Guinea, challenging Western influence.
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San Francisco Chronicle
an hour ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
New protests in S.F. begin as Newsom says Trump is sending more National Guard troops to L.A.
Outrage over immigration raids in Los Angeles sparked a second day of protests in San Francisco on Monday, as state and local leaders accused President Donald Trump of stoking fear and violence by deploying federal troops to Southern California. The demonstrations began late Monday afternoon on the steps of City Hall as Gov. Gavin Newsom said that Trump would deploy another 2,000 members of the California National Guard to Los Angeles, despite the first 2,000 troops being underprepared and underutilized. 'This isn't about public safety. It's about stroking a dangerous President's ego,' Newsom posted on social media. 'This is Reckless. Pointless. And Disrespectful to our troops.' At San Francisco City Hall, about 200 people gathered on the steps for a rally and press conference opposing Trump's immigration enforcement, including his enactment of a travel ban targeting citizens from mainly African and Middle Eastern countries. One person waved an upside-down American flag, while another held a Pride flag. Among the speakers were three members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors — Bilal Mahmood, Jackie Fielder and Shamann Walton — who each strongly condemned Trump. Both Mahmood and Walton described the Trump administration as tyrannical, while Mahmood challenged Trump to come after him first before targeting his residents. 'Donald Trump, you are a coward,' Mahmood said. 'You are a wannabe king anchored in hatred.' Fielder accused Trump of "recklessly" escalating the protests in Los Angeles by deploying the California National Guard and later the Marines. 'It was the National Guard that incited violent protests by arresting peaceful protesters,' Fielder said. 'We have fought this before, and we have to fight it again.' The demonstration came on the heels of a chaotic altercation in downtown San Francisco on Sunday that resulted in the arrest of 148 adults and six juveniles. The civil unrest spurred Mayor Daniel Lurie and other city officials earlier Monday to urge protesters to demonstrate peacefully, while promising to hold those who commit vandalism or other crimes accountable. The rally at City Hall was expected to merge with a protest Monday evening at the 24th and Mission BART plaza. The protests first erupted over the weekend in Los Angeles after federal authorities conducted immigration raids in heavily Latino neighborhoods. Some protesters clashed with local law enforcement, while people vandalized buildings and set vehicles on fire. Local law enforcement deployed tear gas and flash-bang grenades on protesters. The Trump administration deployed National Guard troops, without the request of the governor, in an effort to quell the protests, but Newsom said local law enforcement did not need the help and that the federal government sent them to escalate tensions. The deployment led to Trump and Newsom trading barbs on Monday. Newsom said the state would sue the administration over the deployment, calling it a 'serious breach of state sovereignty.' Trump said on Monday that Newsom should be arrested, and the government began deploying hundreds of U.S. Marines to Los Angeles. On Sunday in San Francisco, protesters gathered near the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office downtown. The demonstration soon turned into a chaotic standoff between protesters and police that injured two officers, police said. Of the more than 150 arrested, police cited and released all but one of them, a person suspected of aggravated assault. There was no immediate indication that federal officials also planned to send National Guard troops to San Francisco. San Francisco's mayor Lurie refrained from attacking Trump at a press conference Monday morning, while stressing the need for protesters to demonstrate peacefully. Lurie said he understood why people were protesting and criticized the 'tactics being used across the country to target immigrant communities.' 'Those tactics make members of our community less likely to work with law enforcement to report crimes and criminals,' Lurie said. 'They make people afraid to go to work or send their kids to school. That all makes our city less safe.' Lurie endorsed San Francisco's sanctuary law that limits cooperation between its police and federal immigration enforcement, saying the policy had made immigrant residents of the city more comfortable working with police when necessary. He also said 'everyone in this country has a right to make their voices heard peacefully.' 'But let me also be clear: We will not tolerate violence and destructive behavior, and we will never tolerate violence directed at law enforcement or city workers,' Lurie said. 'Our public servants are there to protect the right to protest and the right to be safe. Violent behavior towards them is unacceptable.' District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said she sympathized with immigrant residents who are afraid to go about their daily lives because of the raids being conducted by the Trump administration. She expressed support for peaceful protest but said 'we draw the line when people violate the law.' Jenkins vowed to prosecute 'those who are committing vandalism, violence and other acts that are criminal' but said it would take time for her office to sort through videos and other evidence gathered by police on Sunday. Law enforcement leaders are bracing for a potential influx of arrests in the coming days if unrest persists in San Francisco. The sheriff's office prepared its intake and release facility to handle mass arrests 'should the need arise,' Undersheriff Katherine Johnson told reporters. Sheriff's officials can open additional jail units if needed, she said.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Palestinians say local gunmen and Israeli forces opened fire near Gaza aid site
Palestinians in Gaza say they were fired on once again as they headed to one of the aid distribution centres run by the Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation on Monday. Witnesses said that for the first time they were fired on by Palestinian gunmen near the GHF site in the Tal al-Sultan area of Rafah, in the south. They also said Israeli troops fired on them. Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said six people were killed and 99 injured from areas designated for aid collection. The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports. The GHF said the Tal al-Sultan site did not open on Monday and that there were no incidents at two other sites which did hand out aid. It comes days after Israel's prime minister acknowledged that it was arming Palestinian clans in Gaza who were opposed to Hamas. Gaza-bound activist boat carrying Greta Thunberg towed to Israel Gaza health workers say four killed by Israeli gunfire near aid centre Netanyahu confirms Israel arming clans opposed to Hamas in Gaza Almost every day since the GHF began distributing aid on 26 May, there have been deadly incidents near one or other of the four centres it has so far opened. Dozens of Palestinians have been killed while approaching one site in the Tal al-Sultan area of Rafah on a route that runs through an Israeli military zone. In the previous incidents, witnesses have said that Israeli forces opened fire at crowds. The Israeli military has denied that troops fired at civilians within the site, but it has said that troops fired at "suspects" who ignored warning shots and approached them. In Monday's incident, people at the scene said that Palestinian gunmen shot at them, as well as Israeli forces. They said the gunmen appeared to be allied with the Israeli forces, as they were operating near them and moved back into an Israeli military zone. One witness told BBC Arabic's Middle East daily programme that he saw a group of young men dressed in civilian clothes and with their faces completely covered when he arrived in the area to get a box of food aid from the GHF site. "At first, we thought they might be Palestinian youths helping with the process, but suddenly, they began shooting at us," Hisham Saeed Salem said. "Even those who managed to get a box of aid were targeted and shot. We still don't know who these attackers are. They took everything from us - some even stole from us during the chaos," he added. Another man, Mohammed Sakout, said: "Several young men were shot and killed right behind me. I narrowly escaped death - some bullets passed just inches from my head." "At first, it was the Israeli army that was shooting at civilians. But today, we were shocked to discover the presence of gangs and militias," he added. At Nasser hospital in the nearby city of Khan Younis, a seriously injured man being treated for a gunshot wound to his neck, Mohammed Kabaga, told the Associated Press: "A group of masked armed men who were organising us starting firing towards us directly." "We went to get aid. They said to stand in line. We stood in line and suddenly they started shooting at us. While I was standing, I was surprised when a bullet hit me, I got dizzy and fell down," he said. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told the BBC that it was looking into the reports. The GHF said in a statement that it opened two sites on Monday in the Saudi neighbourhood of Rafah and Wadi Gaza, in the centre of the Strip, and that "aid distribution at both sites proceeded without incident". When asked by the BBC about the reports from Tal al-Sultan, a GHF spokesperson said there was "nothing around our sites". However, a post on the group's Facebook account did say on Monday afternoon that the Tal al-Sultan centre was closed due to the "chaos of the crowds". The GHF's interim executive director, John Acree, said it had delivered more than 11 million meals over the past two weeks "without an injury or major incident at our distribution sites". Gaza's health ministry said hospitals had received a total of 127 dead and 1,287 injured people from "areas designated for aid distribution" during the same period. The GHF, which uses US private security contractors, aims to bypass the UN as the main supplier of aid to Palestinians. The UN and other aid groups refuse to co-operate with the new system, saying it contravenes the humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality, and independence. They also warn that Gaza's 2.1 million population faces catastrophic levels of hunger after an almost three-month total Israeli blockade that was partially eased three weeks ago. The US and Israel say the GHF's system will prevent aid being stolen by Hamas, which the group denies doing. The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. At least 54,927 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Federal efforts to revoke buffer zone around Chaco Canyon prompts delegation letter
Peñasco Blanco at Chaco Culture National Historical Park in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. (Photo by Mary Cornatzer/Source NM) In a new letter to U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, New Mexico's congressional delegation chastised federal efforts to revoke a 10-mile buffer zone for oil and gas development around Chaco Culture National Historical Park. 'Pursuing increased development on [Bureau of Land Management] lands within the ten-mile area that surrounds Chaco Canyon—so rich in cultural, spiritual, and historical significance—is misguided and risks permanent damage to one of the most sacred landscapes in North America,' the letter stated. 'Additionally, it is unacceptable to push forward without full and robust Tribal consultation.' U.S. Interior Department finalizes fossil fuel, mining ban near Chaco Canyon The area around Chaco Canyon holds paramount spiritual and cultural significance to several New Mexico Pueblos, the Hopi Indians of Arizona and the Navajo Nation. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization designated the archaeological sites at Chaco among one of only 24 World Heritage Sites in the U.S. The site sits atop the Mancos Shale formation in the San Juan Basin. Approximately 90% of federal lands surrounding the site are leased for oil and gas, according to the All Pueblo Governors Council. Pueblo governments and advocates fought for years for protections from further encroachment of oil and gas. In 2023, under the Biden Administration, the federal government issued Public Land Order No. 7923, banning further oil and gas development on federal lands within 10 miles of the historic site for 20 years, which was celebrated by advocates and tribal governments. In April, members of the delegation re-introduced federal legislation to make the withdrawal permanent. But a competing Republican-backed bill and the Trump Administration's efforts to unwind the order are threatening that progress, the delegation said in their letter. Bureau of Land Management officials failed to offer proper notice of virtual May 28 tribal consultation, the delegation said, adding that federal officials did not send a letter to all of the impacted tribal governments. The delegation pressed the federal government to hold in-person consultations, give a timeline for when decisions will be made and urged Burgum himself to tour in-person. A Source NM request to the Bureau of Land Management for a copy of the letter sent to tribal governments in May went unreturned Monday. Efforts to remove the buffer are unsurprising, said Julia Bernal (Sandia), the executive Director of Pueblo Action Alliance, who noted it was one of the plans outlined in the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025. Bernal said her nonprofit is pushing for further safeguarding the ancestral site and reducing pollution from oil and gas, and worries that walking back Chaco protections will erode future restoration or protection efforts. 'If we're undoing or just disregarding those very important mandated tribal consultation processes, then that really just does show how unimportant it is for this administration to uphold their sovereign rights,' Bernal said. A reversal will face 'widespread public opposition and yield minimal benefits,' in oil and gas development, the delegation wrote. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
