Mali’s military government, led by Colonel Assimi Goita, announced the dissolution of all political parties on Tuesday, May 7, 2025. This decision comes on the heels of recent anti-government protests and escalating demands for the restoration of democratic governance. The announcement was made during a televised address to the nation, which followed a series of opposition arrests and a sweeping decree that suspended all political activities across the country. As placards proclaiming “Down with dictatorship, long live democracy” echoed through the streets during demonstrations on May 3 and 4, it became evident that public sentiment was reaching a boiling point—prompting the regime’s swift and harsh reaction. This crackdown follows a contentious national dialogue held in April, where proposals to extend Goita’s rule until 2030 ignited outrage among civil society and human rights groups. Critics denounced the plan as a blatant attempt to entrench military rule while disregarding the calls for democratic reform. Reports have surfaced of alarming disappearances among opposition figures, intensifying fears among political activists. Human Rights Watch confirmed that on Thursday, masked gunmen arrested Abba Alhassane, the Secretary-General of the opposition party CODEM. On the same day, Yelema party leader El Bachir Thiam was allegedly abducted in Kati, and another CODEM youth leader, Abdoul Karim Traore, has gone missing. “We fear he has been taken too,” lamented a party member who chose to remain anonymous when speaking to Reuters. Goita initially rose to power in a military coup in 2020, citing the previous civilian government’s inability to combat escalating jihadist violence from groups linked to ISIL and al-Qaeda. The coup was preceded by a severe crackdown on anti-government protesters that resulted in at least 14 fatalities. Since assuming control, the military regime has implemented stringent measures to solidify its rule, effectively dismantling many democratic safeguards. Rights groups have accused the government, along with its allies—including Russian Wagner forces—of widespread human rights abuses. As Mali finds itself mired in turmoil and uncertainty, the dissolution of political parties marks a significant step backward for the country’s hopes of democratic restoration. The cries for change from a courageous citizenry continue to grow louder, yet the military government’s firm grip on power threatens to overshadow these vital demands for justice and democracy. Source: Apexnewsgh.com

A high school student from Wisconsin killed his parents as part of a larger plot to assassinate US President Donald Trump, the FBI has said. Nikita Casap, 17, has been charged with the killing of his mother, Tatiana Casap, 35, and his stepfather Donald Mayer, 51, who were found dead at their home on 28 February. A newly unsealed search warrant also alleges that the suspect’s phone contained material relating to a neo-Nazi group called the Order of Nine Angles and praise for Adolf Hitler. Investigators also discovered antisemitic writings in which the accused allegedly detailed his plans to kill Trump as a part of a broader goal to overthrow the government, according to the court document. The suspect is accused of first-degree intentional homicide and seven other felony counts, including hiding a corpse and identity theft. The parents were found dead when local officials visited their home in the village of Waukesha, near Milwaukee, after the boy failed to attend school for two weeks. Mr Mayer had died from a gunshot wound to the head, while Ms Casap died from multiple gunshot wounds on or about 11 February, according to a criminal complaint concerning the teenager. The same day their bodies were discovered, the defendant was pulled over by police in the state of Kansas while driving a 2018 Volkswagen Atlas belonging to Mr Mayer, investigators said. In the car was Mr Mayer’s Smith & Wesson .357 pistol, four credit cards belonging to the couple, “multiple pieces” of valuable jewelry, a pried-open safe and $14,000 (£10,700) in currency, most of which was inside a Bible, said the criminal complaint. In writings found by investigators, the suspect expressed white supremacist beliefs and called for Trump’s assassination to start a political revolution, according to the search warrant. The alleged double murder “appeared to be an effort to obtain the financial means and autonomy necessary to carrying out his plan”, investigators wrote. The court documents allege the suspect was speaking with people in Russia about plans to kill his parents. Authorities said the teenager paid for a drone and explosives to use in an attack – and had plans to escape to Ukraine. “He was in touch with other parties about his plan to kill the president and overthrow the government of the Unites States,” investigators wrote. The suspect had a preliminary court hearing on 9 April. He has not entered a plea to the charges. He is next due to appear in court for an arraignment – where he will be formally given the charges against him – on 7 May, according to the Waukesha County Court. He is being held on a $1m (£764,000) bond. Source: BBC

Namibia’s new president was sworn in on Friday to lead a country facing high rates of unemployment, inequality and poverty. And she will be dealing with it with the additional burden of being only Africa’s second-ever directly elected female president and Namibia’s first female head of state. “If things go well then it will be seen as a good example,” Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah told BBC’s Africa Daily podcast. “But if anything then happens, like it can happen in any administration under men, there are also those who would rather say: ‘Look at women!’” The 72-year-old won November’s election with a 58% share of the vote. Nandi-Ndaitwah has been a long-term loyalist of the South West Africa People’s Organisation (Swapo) – which has been in power since the country gained independence in 1990 after a long struggle against apartheid South Africa. She joined Swapo, then a liberation movement resisting South Africa’s white-minority rule, when she was only 14. While the party has made changes and improved the lives of the black majority, the legacy of apartheid can still be seen in patterns of wealth and land ownership. “Truly, land is a serious problem in this country,” she told the BBC ahead of the inauguration. “We still have some white citizens and more particularly the absent land owners who are occupying the land.” Source: BBC

President Donald Trump’s administration on Sunday began mass layoffs at Voice of America and other US-funded media, making clear its intent to gut outlets long seen as critical for US influence. Just a day after all employees were put on leave, staff working on a contractual basis received an email notifying them that they were terminated at the end of March. The email, confirmed to AFP by several employees, told contractors that “you must cease all work immediately and are not permitted to access any agency buildings or systems.” Contractors make up much of VOA’s workforce and dominate staffing in the non-English language services, although recent figures were not immediately available. 3 udded weddings, others Many contractors are not US citizens, meaning they likely depend on their soon-to-disappear jobs for visas to stay in the United States. Full-time VOA staff, who have more legal protections, were not immediately terminated but remain on administrative leave and have been told not to work. Voice of America, created during World War II, broadcast around the world in 49 languages with a mission to reach countries without media freedom. Trump signed an executive order Friday targeting VOA’s parent US Agency for Global Media in his latest sweeping cuts to the federal government. The agency had 3,384 employees in the 2023 fiscal year. It had requested $950 million for the current fiscal year. With VOA in limbo, some of its services have switched to playing music for lack of new programming. The sweeping cuts also froze Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, formed in the Cold War to reach the former Soviet bloc, and Radio Free Asia, established to provide reporting to China, North Korea and other Asian countries with heavily restricted media. Other US-funded outlets being gutted include Radio Farda, a Persian-language broadcaster blocked by Iran’s government, and Alhurra, an Arabic-language network established after the Iraq invasion in the face of highly critical coverage by Qatar-based Al-Jazeera. The White House in a statement Saturday said that “taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda,” a charge rarely levelled before Trump at staid VOA, long aimed at countering communism. Trump regularly criticizes media coverage of him and has questioned the wisdom of funding VOA when it has a “firewall” ensuring its editorial independence. The cuts come as China and Russia invest heavily in state media to compete with Western narratives, with China often offering free content to outlets in the developing world. In an editorial on the demise of VOA, China’s state-run Global Times said that “the monopoly of information held by some traditional Western media is being shattered.” “As more Americans begin to break through their information cocoons and see a real world and a multidimensional China, the demonizing narratives propagated by VOA will ultimately become a laughingstock of the times,” it said. AFP  

The navies of Iran, Russia and China will hold military drills off the coast of Iran this week in a bid to boost cooperation, Iranian media reported Sunday. The three countries, which share a common desire to counter what they characterize as American hegemony, have held similar exercises in the region in recent years. The drills “will begin on Tuesday in the port of Chabahar,” located in southeast Iran on the Gulf of Oman, the Tasnim news agency said, without specifying their duration. “Warships and combat and support vessels of the Chinese and Russian naval forces, as well as the warships of Iran’s naval forces of the army and the Revolutionary Guards,” the ideological arm of Iran’s military, are expected to participate, according to Tasnim. The exercises will take place “in the northern Indian Ocean” and aim to “strengthen security in the region, and expand multilateral cooperation between participating countries,” Tasnim said. Azerbaijan, South Africa, Oman, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Qatar, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and Sri Lanka will attend as observers. China will deploy “a destroyer and a supply ship,” Beijing’s defense ministry said on the WeChat social media network. The Iranian army conducted drills in the same area in February to “strengthen defense capabilities against any threat.” Source: AFP