Sabina Tanovic: How architecture shapes memory and justice
At least 38 killed in church attack in eastern DR Congo
In the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), an attack on a church claimed the lives of at least 38 people and injured 15 others.
The church in Komanda city, Ituri province, was the site of the attack early on Sunday, when members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) were allegedly armed with guns and knives.
The ADF has ties to ISIL (ISIS), a rebel group that runs operations on the border between Uganda and the DRC and regularly targets civilians.
Numerous people have been missing since the attack, which occurred while Catholic Christians were observing a prayer vigil at the church, which was being held by the Caritas charity.
According to Christophe Munyanderu, a human rights activist at the scene in Komanda, “the rebels primarily attacked Christians who were spending the night in the Catholic church.” These people were sadly killed using machetes or bullets, according to the report.
The death toll was 43, according to Radio Okapi in the DRC, blaming the ADF. More than 20 people were killed while attending a church’s prayer vigil, according to the radio. “Other bodies were discovered in nearby burned-out homes”
According to DRC army spokesman Jules Ngongo, “we know that there was an incursion by armed men with machetes into a church not far from Komanda.”
A leader of civil society told The Associated Press that at least three charred bodies were discovered inside and outside the church, according to a leader in the organization.
However, the search for bodies is continuing, Komanda’s civil society coordinator Dieudonne Duranthabo told AP.
According to Duranthabo, “We are truly disappointed because it is unbelievable that a situation could arise in a town where all security personnel are present,” adding that some people have since fled the area and relocated to Bunia town.
Since we are informed that the enemy is still close to our town, “we demand military intervention as soon as possible.”
The DRC’s UN Organization for Stabilization has condemned the recent resurgence of violence in Ituri. In a “bloodbath,” according to a UN spokesman, ADF killed dozens of people in the province earlier this month.
In Uganda, a series of disparate small groups formed the ADF in the late 1990s as a result of alleged unrest with President Yoweri Museveni.
The organization moved its activities to the DRC after Ugandan forces launched military assaults in 2002, and it has since been responsible for the killings of countless civilians. It swore allegiance to ISIL in 2019.
The ADF’s leadership claims that the East African nation is battling to establish a hardliner government.
US-EU trade talks: Will Ursula von der Leyen clinch a deal with Trump?
After weeks of intensive trade talks between the two countries, as Brussels tries to reach a deal with Washington to prevent a transatlantic trade war, United States President Donald Trump is scheduled to hold crucial talks with European Union head Ursula von der Leyen in Scotland.
On Sunday, Von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, will meet with the US president at his Scottish resort, Turnberry Golf Club. The meeting will likely lead to a deal, according to European ministers, to avoid Trump’s threat of 30% tariffs on EU goods.
Negotiators in Europe are aiming for tariffs to be set at 15%, according to those who are present. Trump claimed to the media on Friday that the bloc “wants] to make a deal very badly.”
If no agreement can be reached by Friday’s deadline, Trump threatened to impose the 30% tariffs on July 12. That would add to the already-applicable 25% tariffs on cars and auto parts and the 50% levies on steel and aluminum.
Trump has frequently targeted the EU, which is Washington’s largest trading partner, with the president accusing the bloc of “ripping off” the US.
In 2024, EU exports to the US totalled 532 billion euros , ($603bn). According to EU data, pharmaceuticals, automotive parts, and industrial chemicals accounted for the bulk of exports.
Will the Trump-von der Leyen meeting lead to a breakthrough and put an end to transatlantic trade tensions?
What distinguishes the two sides in particular?
There are “20 sticking points,” the US president told reporters at Turnberry on Friday.
When asked what they were, he responded, “Well, I don’t want to tell you what the sticking points are.”
He also described von der Leyen as a “highly respected woman” and predicted a “good” outcome for their Sunday meeting, giving a 50-50 chance of a deal.
If negotiations fail, a growing number of EU countries are reportedly asking Brussels to implement a retaliatory tariffs package that has already been developed on 90 billion euros ($109bn) of US goods, including car parts and bourbon.
Since April 9, when Trump paused what he calls his “reciprocal” tariffs, which he placed on nearly all nations, the two sides have been negotiating. In 2023, they traded 1.6 trillion euros ($1.8 trillion) in goods and services.
Since then, the US has levied a flat 10% sur all EU products, 25% on cars, and 50% on steel and aluminum.
EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic stated in this month that “we need to go for these rebalancing measures to protect the EU economy.”
The bloc’s trade policies, however, are reportedly fraught with disagreement. Other EU members, particularly France, have urged negotiators to avoid a stacked US-US deal, despite Germany’s demand for a quick deal to safeguard its industries.
According to von der Leyen spokesman Paula Pinho, intensive negotiations are taking place between the EU and the US on a technical and political level on Saturday. The scope for a balanced outcome that provides stability and predictability for both businesses and consumers on both sides of the Atlantic will now be taken into account by leaders.
What kind of business did the US and EU engage in?
The US-EU goods trade reached nearly $1 trillion in 2024, making the US the world’s largest trading partner.
The US purchased more goods overall for $ 235.6 billion than it did the EU’s 27 nations, or $ 235.6 billion. On the other hand, the US profited from trade with the EU in services.
US purchases totaling roughly $606 billion included pharmaceuticals, mechanical goods, cars, and other non-railway goods primarily from the EU.
US exports to the EU totaling $ 370 billion were made of fuel, pharmaceutical products, machinery, and aircraft.
Why have they been so unsuccessful in negotiating a deal?
Trump has long alleged that the EU is defrauding his country, just like the other countries that the US trades with. He is now demanding that Brussels reduce its goods trade surplus.
Washington has raised questions about the rules governing food exports and IT services in Europe in recent weeks. Trump has argued that these controls serve as nontariff trade barriers.
Sefcovic recently stated to the Financial Times that he wants to purchase more US gas, weapons, and farm products to reduce the US-EU trade deficit.
French President Emmanuel Macron stated on Wednesday that while European leaders want the lowest tariffs, they also “want to be respected as the partners that we are.”
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen stated to reporters in Brussels on July 14 that “we should prepare to be ready to use all the tools.”
He continued, “You must prepare for war if you want peace.” The Scottish negotiators are hopeful that that won’t happen.
According to an economic forecasting firm called Oxford Economics, the EU could be “to the brink of recession” by the end of this month.
The Mom Who Fought a Cartel | True Crime Reports
a mother’s fervent search for the killers of her daughter.
One of Mexico’s most feared cartels kidnapped and murdered Karen Rodriguez in 2014. Hers was the only family that was forced to remain silent, unlike the majority of families.
Her mother, Miriam Rodrigues, shunned her own desperate search for justice after refusing to give up. Miriam’s fearless pursuit made her an unlikely hero and a target in a nation where cartels operate with impunity, kidnappings are frequent, and speaking out can lead to death.
This extraordinary tale of a mother’s fervent desire to bring her daughter’s murderers to justice and the high price she paid for defying cartels is remarkable.
In this episode:
- Journalist Ricardo Ravelo
- Journalist Marla Jaramillo Alans
Two friends, one war and the RSF’s reign of terror in Khartoum
Two childhood friends have experienced confinement and injustice at one of Sudan’s conflicting sides in Shambat al-Aradi, a tightly knit neighborhood in Khartoum North that was once known for its vibrant community gatherings and spirited music festivals.
Khalid al-Sadiq, a 43-year-old family doctor, and one of his best friends, a 40-year-old musician who once lit up the stage of the nearby Khedr Bashir Theatre, were inseparable before the war.
Both men, who were both born and raised close to that beloved theater, were swept into a campaign of arbitrary arrests carried out by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) when the civil war broke out in their city in April 2023.
Although the friends’ experiences were different and different, they remained akin to one another until they emerged physically altered, emotionally broken, and compelled to survive forever.
Imprisonment and ransom
Al-Sadiq’s ordeal began in August of 2023 when RSF forces arbitrarily detained Shambat and numerous other men.
He spent days incarcerated in a bathroom in a house where the RSF had looted it along with seven other people.
“We were only let out to eat, then forced back in”, he explained.
The RSF repeatedly tortured al-Sadiq during his first days of interrogation before demanding a ransom.
Using pliers, they used to repeatedly smash his fingers. At one point, to scare him, they fired at the ground near him, sending shrapnel flying into his abdomen and causing heavy bleeding.
The men’s captors gathered them after three days.
According to al-Sadiq, “They tried to bargain with us, demanding 3 million Sudanese pounds [roughly $1, 000] per person.”
Three men were released after handing over everything they had, including a rickshaw and all their cash. Al-Sadiq and the other prisoners who were still in prison were moved to a smaller cell with a more cramped toilet hidden beneath a staircase.
“There wasn’t any ventilation. There were insects everywhere”, he said. They had to alternate sleeping positions; one could almost lie down while the other could stand.
Al-Sadiq’s friend, the musician, who requested anonymity, was also detained and detained at Khartoum North, where the RSF had earlier taken control of the conflict with Sudan’s military, in the first few months of the conflict.
That would not be the only time the musician was taken because the RSF had been told that his family were distantly related to former President Omar al-Bashir.
Because of that connection, even though I was never a member of the regime, they called me a “remainder of the regime.” He claimed that he had protested against al-Bashir and that he had opposed it.
Months later, the RSF raided his family’s Shambat home, and his younger brother was fatally shot. The musician quickly evacuated his family to Umm al-Qura in Gezira state to keep everyone safe, before returning home to collect their belongings. That was when he was arrested.
He claimed to Al Jazeera that the RSF fighters would entrap him and other prisoners and place them face-down in the yard during his time there. Then they would use a “sout al-anag,” a traditional hippo skin-based Sudanese leather whip to defeat them.
The flogging lasted a long time, he added, and it was not an isolated incident. He experienced it a number of times.
RSF agents subjected him to verbal and physical abuse and fabricated information about his alleged affiliation with al-Bashir during interrogations, labeling him as a political Islamist remnant of al-Bashir’s regime, and using slurs like “Koz.”
He was held for about a month, then released to return to a home that had been looted.
At least five more arrests would be made for him.
According to al-Sadiq, “the majority of the detentions were based on people telling each other things, sometimes for personal gain, sometimes for torture.”
“RSF commanders even brag about having a list of Bashir regime or SAF]Sudan armed forces] supporters for every area”.
forced labor
The musician claimed to Al Jazeera that he and others were forced to perform manual labor in a way that the fighters did not want to do while he was being held by the RSF.
“They used to take us out in the morning to dig graves”, he said. “I buried more than 30 graves myself.”
The prisoners who had been tortured, ill, or starved appeared to be the victims of the detention camps’ graves.
While he could not estimate how many people were buried in those pits, he described the site where he was forced to dig, saying it already had many pits that had been used before.
Al-Sadiq was transported to an RSF detention facility in the al-Riyadh neighborhood while being blindfolded, bound, and bundled into a van.
A section for women, an area for those who had been captured in battle, another for those who had surrendered, and an underground chamber known as “Guantanamo,” which is the site of systematic torture, were the five zones in the compound.
Al-Sadiq tried to help the people he was imprisoned with, treating them with whatever they could scavenge and appealing to the RSF to take the dangerously sick prisoners to a hospital.
However, the RSF typically rejected the pleas, and al-Sadiq can still recall one patient, Saber, who the fighters shackled despite their quick deterioration of his health.
“I kept asking that he be transferred to a hospital”, al-Sadiq said. He “died.”
However, some of the prisoners who were being treated did not, and the RSF kept a group of doctors in a separate room with beds and medical equipment.
There, they were told to treat injured RSF fighters or prisoners the RSF wanted to keep alive, either to keep torturing them for information or because they thought they could get big ransoms for them.
Al-Sadiq chose to stay with the other prisoners and cooperate less with the RSF, keeping to himself, and cooperating with them.
In the cell he chose to remain in, conditions were impolite.
“The total water we received daily – for drinking, ablution, everything – was six small cups”, al-Sadiq said, adding that food was scarce and “insects, rats and lice lived with us. I lost 77 pounds and 35 kg.
Although their captors did occasionally provide him with medical supplies when they needed them to treat someone, they provided a lifeline for everyone who came his way.
The prisoners were so desperate that he sometimes shared IV glucose drips he got from the RSF so detainees could drink them for some hydration.
The RSF would only provide small “payments” of sugar, milk, or dates to prisoners who were forced to perform manual labor, such as loading or unloading trucks, as the only other sources of food.
Al-Sadiq did not mention having heard of other prisoners digging graves or having been forced to do so.
For the musician, however, graves became a constant reality, even during the periods when he was able to go back home to Shambat.
He assisted in the interment of about 20 neighbors who had to be buried anywhere but in cemeteries after succumbing to starvation or crossfire.
Without explaining the reason, the RSF prevented people from visiting the cemeteries to rest their loved ones.
In fact at first, the RSF prohibited all burials, then relented and allowed some burials as long as they were not in the cemeteries.
In Shambat Stadium’s Rabta Field and close to the Khedr Bashir Theatre, the musician and others would dig graves for victims.
He said many people who were afraid to leave their homes at all ended up burying their loved ones in their yards or in any nearby plots they could furtively access.
Al-Sadiq was released in the winter, but the friends’ ordeals continued until the RSF stopped intervening to arrest the musician.
Why doesn’t anyone understand why.
Both al-Sadiq and the musician told Al Jazeera they remain haunted by what they endured.
They claimed that their suffering did not end with their release; rather, it persisted, eroding from their minds, a fear that their fate will be forever.
The SAF announced Khartoum’s recapture on March 26. Now, the two men have returned to their neighbourhood, where they feel a greater sense of safety.
‘Not eating for days’: Gaza’s worsening starvation crisis
Aid workers and health personnel claim that the more than two million Palestinians in Gaza are at a tipping point and are causing more deaths.
Since March, both adults and Palestinian children have fallen victim to Israel’s blockade, which is typically the most vulnerable.
Nearly 100, 000 women and children in Gaza are “not eating for days,” according to the UN’s World Food Programme, and almost a third of the population is “not eating for days.” Many important treatments and medicines are out of stock, according to doctors.
The prevalence of malnutrition and disease is alarming, according to the World Health Organization, with many Gazans now starving.