Without peace to keep, UN winds up its missions in Africa, experts wary of risky security vacuum

Without peace to keep, UN winds up its missions in Africa, experts wary of risky security vacuum

Half of the UN’s 12 peacekeeping missions are in Africa, comprises about 86,000 military, police and civilian personnel. MONUSCO and MINUSMA, two of the biggest and most expensive operations, are working to fully withdraw by the end of 2023.

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US’ strong backing of Israel’s war against Hamas baffles allies who can’t predict Washington’s next move

US’ strong backing of Israel’s war against Hamas baffles allies who can’t predict Washington’s next move

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has governed semi-autonomous areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank since Hamas expelled his forces from Gaza, is already deeply unpopular with the Palestinian public.

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Jude Bellingham: Why Real Madrid fans flock Bernabeu to cheer his goals, sing his name, dance like him

Jude Bellingham: Why Real Madrid fans flock Bernabeu to cheer his goals, sing his name, dance like him

Bellingham is making efforts to learn Spanish. One player says that “he doesn’t speak perfectly, but he knows how to communicate very well thanks to his personality and his way of being”. Internally, the special relationship between Bellingham and Antonio Pintus, the first team’s head physical coach, has also been much commented on.

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Take-it-leave-it: Somalia’s ‘IDP economy’ thrives by ruthless clan networks imposing tax on aid

Take-it-leave-it: Somalia’s ‘IDP economy’ thrives by ruthless clan networks imposing tax on aid

People displaced to Mogadishu, the capital, predominantly come from within the Digil and Mirifle clan family, the Somali Bantu community, and other smaller minority communities – all of whom are structurally marginalised in Somalia.

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Press freedom: Biden administration has ‘effectively morphed’ due to society being now ‘better informed’

Press freedom: Biden administration has ‘effectively morphed’ due to society being now ‘better informed’

Along similar lines, Glaser said: “For Americans, free speech is not really a partisan issue. Every reasonable person likes free speech, it’s part of our culture and law. This empowers the Supreme Court to readily decide the case and also to set national precedent and guidance for future cases in this area of social media free speech. Billions of people will be affected worldwide by the ruling.”

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US Supreme Court impending review of ban on White House contact with social media has profound implications

US Supreme Court impending review of ban on White House contact with social media has profound implications

The dissenting opinion, authored by Alito, argued that the government’s request for a stay pausing the injunction should not have been granted by the court, noting that the government had not demonstrated “any concrete proof” that “harm is imminent” – a threshold that is required to issue a stay against an injunction.

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Questions linger over Hamas’ missing ‘suicide drones’ and if they can breach Israeli Iron Dome defence

Questions linger over Hamas’ missing ‘suicide drones’ and if they can breach Israeli Iron Dome defence

Unlike Russia or Ukraine, Hamas couldn’t source military drones through an open tender. So it tapped Tunisian-born aerospace engineer Mohamed Zouari to, in the early 2010s, design Hamas’ first fleet of operational drones and stand up an industry to produce them. They called the first model Ababeel, which was very similar to an Iranian drone and had three different models. One version was designed to conduct surveillance, one to deliver small munitions and the third was a suicide drone.

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Americans’ trust  in foundational institutions is eroded, chaos in Congress makes it worse

Americans’ trust  in foundational institutions is eroded, chaos in Congress makes it worse

The House has been without a permanent leader since early October after a small cadre of right-wing Republicans pushed out a member of their own party, then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Subsequent attempts to replace him have failed.

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Gaza hospital bombing brings out unchecked fact: Fact-checking itself is weaponised by adversaries

Gaza hospital bombing brings out unchecked fact: Fact-checking itself is weaponised by adversaries

Social media was flooded with videos and images that claimed to provide proof of the origin of the attacks, with many accounts making definitive judgments about those they claimed were responsible for the attack, all without any actual proof.

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Win over Chelsea makes MikeArteta best Arsenal manager after 150 matches, followed by Wenger

Mikel Arteta has finally conceded Arsenal are title contenders after becoming the Gunners’ most successful ever manager following 150 games in charge. Gabriel’s second half winner saw the Gunners return to the Premier League summit. It means Arteta has 87 wins as Arsenal boss – five more than Arsene Wenger...

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