Colombia has signed a peace-building agreement in Qatar with the country’s largest drug-trafficking group, the Clan del Golfo or EGC, which is accused of shipping hundreds of tonnes of cocaine to the US and Europe each year.
Farchana refugee settlement, Chad – The Rapid Support Forces’ (RSF) capture of el-Fasher, North Darfur state’s capital, has triggered a fresh wave of violence, destruction and displacement in Sudan’s devastating civil war.
This 30-month conflict between the paramilitary group and the government-aligned Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) has created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, displacing nearly 12 million people.
Thousands escaping the recent violence are seeking refuge in Chad, which already hosts more than 880,000 Sudanese refugees. Though now safe from immediate danger, many refugees struggle to survive as humanitarian funding continues to decrease.
Chad currently shelters almost 1.3 million forcibly displaced persons, including at least 760,000 Sudanese refugees who have arrived since April 2023. This massive influx, mostly women and children, strains a country already battling economic weakness, conflict and extreme weather events.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) collaborates with Chad’s government to coordinate humanitarian operations, transfer refugees from border areas to established facilities, and provide essential protection services and aid, including water, shelter, food and medical provisions. Work continues to move more than 237,000 refugees from temporary settlements near Adre to locations with better healthcare and educational access.
The malnutrition ward at the Farchana Hospital is currently treating at least 80 infants and children who need urgent care. These young patients receive continuous monitoring and specialised nutritional therapy throughout their recovery. However, funding for this vital programme will expire by late 2025, putting countless vulnerable children at risk.
“We need a lot of support to provide enough medicine for both refugees and the host community. The number of people here is overwhelming, and seasonal diseases and outbreaks make the situation even more difficult,” said Mohamed Ibrahim, a pharmacist from Al Jazeera state in central Sudan, who fled the war with his wife and children and now works at the Farchana Hospital. With resources severely limited, he becomes increasingly concerned about his fellow refugees’ health.
Water demand in the Farchana refugee settlement has risen dramatically. The dry conditions and ongoing arrival of new refugees from Sudan have worsened these shortages, with at least 41,000 new refugees arriving in 2025 alone.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has said the United States remains Europe’s “biggest ally” despite stinging criticism of the continent in a major strategy document amid ongoing ceasefire talks on the Ukraine war.
Speaking at the Doha Forum in Qatar on Saturday, Kallas said some of the US National Security Strategy’s criticism of Europe, which included charges of lacking in “self-confidence” and facing “civilizational erasure”, a widely dismissed claim, were true, but insisted the EU and US should “stick together”.
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“I think we haven’t always seen eye to eye on different topics, but I think the overall principle is still there. We are the biggest allies,” she said, adding that the goal of the US should be to help Europe “correct its current trajectory”.
The document, which said Europe might one day lose its status as a reliable ally, struck a similar tone to the offensive launched by US President Donald Trump’s administration against Europe earlier this year as it pressed for countries to up their NATO contributions, accusing them of taking advantage of Washington’s generosity amid the Ukraine war.
Trump has taken a lead in efforts to end the war, which started with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, coming up with a plan that involves Ukraine surrendering land that Russia has not been able to win on the battlefield in return for security promises that fall short of Kyiv’s aspirations to join NATO.
US officials are holding a third straight day of talks on Saturday with Ukrainian counterparts who have pushed for revisions to that draft, as a follow-up to five hours of talks in Moscow on Tuesday, which confirmed Russian President Vladimir Putin is not giving up on his maximalist demands and territorial claims.
After the second day of talks on Friday, Washington had said “real progress” would depend on “Russia’s readiness to show serious commitment to long-term peace, including steps toward de-escalation and cessation of killings”.
Referring to previous US pressure applied on Kyiv to cede to Russian demands, Kallas told the Doha Forum that placing “limitations and stress on Ukraine actually does not bring us long-lasting peace”.
“If aggression is rewarded, we will see it happen again, and not only in Ukraine or Gaza, but all around the world,” she said.
Kallas said that Europe, which is nervous of a spillover from the war, had been “underestimating its own power”.
Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has accused the government-aligned Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) of waging an attack on a border town near Chad as war in the country rages on deep into its third year.
The RSF alleged the SAF used drones in the attack at the Adre border crossing, according to a statement by the group on Telegram on Friday.
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Sudan’s army has not yet issued a statement in response.
The border crossing point between Chad and Sudan has been vital for humanitarian aid delivery during the ongoing brutal civil war. Throughout the conflict, Chad has received thousands of Sudanese people fleeing the bloodshed amid a devastating humanitarian situation.
The RSF claimed the bombing directly targeted the Adikon Gate at the crossing, their statement adding that the crossing is a “vital” corridor connecting Sudan and Chad, and a crucial humanitarian “lifeline” for delivering aid and commercial supplies to civilians affected by the war.
Footage from the incident showed plumes of smoke and rolling fire from the site of the attack, as civilians looked on.
The group asserted that the bombing was intended to “deliberately” obstruct the flow of humanitarian aid and hinder relief efforts, “worsening the suffering of civilians”.
The RSF also condemned what it said was “international silence” on army violations, “which encourages the aggressor to persist in committing further crimes against civilians and humanitarian infrastructure”.
There were no reports on casualties or what damage the attack caused.
The RSF has been accused of carrying out widespread atrocities against civilians in the war, most recently in el-Fasher in North Darfur State. The SAF has also faced accusations of war crimes.
A day earlier, the death toll from RSF attacks on a kindergarten and other sites in the city of Kalogi in South Kordofan state rose to about 47 people – mostly children – with about 50 others injured, two military sources in the SAF told Al Jazeera.
According to the sources, the RSF attacked the kindergarten on Thursday and then returned to target civilians who had gathered to offer assistance amid the carnage.
The total death toll from Sudan’s war remains unclear, but estimates place it well over 100,000, with nearly 12 million people displaced, according to United Nations figures. More than 24 million Sudanese now face acute hunger.
NBA champions Oklahoma City Thunder powered to their 14th straight victory, beating the Dallas Mavericks 132-111 to push their record to an impressive 22 wins and one loss.
NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 33 points and Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren added 15 apiece in Friday’s game for Oklahoma City, who are off to the best start to a season since the Golden State Warriors opened the 2015-16 campaign 24-0.
Up by 30 through three quarters, the Thunder rested their starters in the final period, the Mavericks’ three-game winning streak ending with a thud.
Jaden Hardy scored 23 points off the bench to lead the Mavs on a night when star centre Anthony Davis scored just two points, making his lone basket of the night in an irrelevant four minutes on court in the final frame.
The oft-injured Davis had checked out of the contest in the third quarter after appearing to injure his left knee, sitting on the bench with it wrapped before returning to the game.
The Boston Celtics, led by 30 points from Jaylen Brown, cruised past the short-handed Los Angeles Lakers 126-105.
The marquee clash lost much of its lustre, with Lakers superstar LeBron James sidelined by the sciatica that caused him to miss the first 14 games of his 23rd season and by foot joint arthritis.
Luka Doncic was also absent, missing a second game for personal reasons. Austin Reaves scored 36 points to lead the Lakers, but Boston never trailed and led by as many as 29.
Denver star Nikola Jokic scored 30 of his 40 points in the second half as the Nuggets rallied to edge the Hawks 134-133 in Atlanta.
Hawks forward Jalen Johnson had a triple-double by halftime with 11 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists before the break and finished with 21 points, 18 rebounds and 16 assists.
But the Nuggets, who trailed by as many as 23 late in the first half, put up 80 points in the second half to charge back.
Jamal Murray scored 23 points and came up with a big block in the waning seconds to help Denver hang on for their ninth straight road win.
In Orlando, Franz Wagner scored 32 points and Jalen Suggs added 22 as the Magic held on for a 106-105 home victory over the Miami Heat.
Miami, trailing their cross-state rivals by 10 early in the fourth quarter, cut the deficit to one on Norman Powell’s driving layup with 50.9 seconds remaining.
Miami had chances to win it in the waning seconds, but Powell missed a fadeaway jumper, the Heat had to burn their last timeout when they were unable to inbound the ball, and Bam Adebayo missed a three-pointer as time expired.
🏀FRIDAY’S FINAL SCORES 🏀
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scores 30 points in under 30 minutes as the @okcthunder win their 14th in a row and move to 22-1!
Jalen Williams: 15 PTS, 8 REB, 5 AST
Chet Holmgren: 15 PTS, 8 REB https://t.co/evv3lJ0XNk pic.twitter.com/ao2dympQyG
It was a milestone night for Houston star Kevin Durant, who became the eighth player in NBA history to score 31,000 career points in the Rockets’ 117-98 victory over the Phoenix Suns.
Durant came into his first game against his former team since a blockbuster July trade, needing just four points to reach the mark, which he achieved with a jump shot midway through the first quarter.
Durant, eighth on the league’s all-time scoring list, finished with 28 points, and teammate Amen Thompson scored his season-high of 31 as the Rockets claimed a fifth victory in six games.
“I’m just grateful to be in this position to live out my dreams every single day,” Durant, a former NBA Most Valuable Player and a two-time champion, said of his latest milestone. “So many people have invested in my life. I’m just grateful for them and I want to keep it going.”
At Madison Square Garden, the New York Knicks opened on a 23-0 scoring run and kept the pedal down in a 146-112 rout of the Utah Jazz.
A drone strike has damaged a protective shield at the Chornobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine, rendering it unable to contain the radioactive material from the 1986 explosion of the plant, the United Nations nuclear watchdog said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Friday that the shield can no longer perform its main safety function, following an inspection of the steel structure last week.
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The agency found the drone impact had degraded the shield in February, in a strike Ukraine has accused Russia of carrying out, with the two countries’ ongoing conflict now in its fourth year.
Throughout the war, Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of blocking the rotation of staff from the IAEA at the Zaporizhzhia facility and of risking a potentially devastating nuclear disaster by attacking the site.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said in a statement that the inspection “mission confirmed that the [protective structure] had lost its primary safety functions, including the confinement capability, but also found that there was no permanent damage to its load-bearing structures or monitoring systems”.
Grossi said repairs had already been carried out “but comprehensive restoration remains essential to prevent further degradation and ensure long-term nuclear safety”.
The UN reported on February 14 that Ukrainian authorities said a drone with a high-explosive warhead struck the plant, caused a fire and damaged the protective cladding around reactor number four, which was destroyed in the 1986 Chornobyl explosion.
Ukrainian authorities said the drone was Russian; however, Moscow denied it had attacked the plant.
Radiation levels remained normal and stable, and there had been no reports of radiation leaks, the UN said in February.
The 1986 Chornobyl explosion sent radiation across Europe and prompted Soviet Union authorities to mobilise vast numbers of men and equipment to deal with the accident. The plant’s last working reactor was closed in 2000.
Russia occupied the plant and the surrounding area for more than a month in the first weeks of its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine as its forces initially tried to advance on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
The IAEA had conducted the inspection at the same time as a country-wide survey of damage to electricity substations by the nearly four-year war between Ukraine and Russia.
Russian drone and missile attacks hit energy infrastructure in eight Ukrainian regions overnight, causing blackouts, according to Ukraine’s Energy Ministry.
“Emergency repair work is already underway where safety conditions permit. Energy companies are doing everything possible to restore power to all customers as quickly as possible,” the ministry said on Saturday in a post on Telegram.
On Friday, Ukraine’s national grid operator, Ukrenergo, announced that electricity restrictions would be in place nationwide from Saturday due to Russian attacks on energy facilities.
The attacks occur as the United States has been meeting with officials of both countries, in an effort to usher in a long-awaited ceasefire.
US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff has been holding talks with Ukraine’s senior negotiator Rustem Umerov in Miami, Florida, after Witkoff met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow earlier this week.
Last month, the US revealed a 28-point proposal to end the Russia-Ukraine war, seen by many as more favourable to Russia’s maximalist demands and war narrative.