Category World News

French energy giant TotalEnergies has restarted construction of a $20bn liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Mozambique after being forced to pause operations indefinitely owing to escalating violence in the region.

The company’s executive Patrick Pouyanne and Mozambique’s President Daniel Chapo jointly announced the official relaunch of the project on Thursday at a ceremony near the construction site in Afungi, located in the gas-rich Cabo Delgado province in Mozambique’s northeast.

The project, considered one of the largest LNG projects on the continent, was suspended in 2021 as Mozambique, with the help of regional forces, battled to contain ISIL-linked fighting that has killed more than 6,400 people in the past eight years, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED).

The project, which is designed to produce more than 13 million tonnes of LNG annually, is expected to come on stream in 2029, potentially generating as much as $35bn for government coffers over its lifetime from taxes, oil profits and other contributions, according to Chapo, cited by Reuters news agency.

Pouyanne said in a statement issued by TotalEnergies that the project would bring “significant economic benefits” to the country, creating up to 7,000 direct jobs for Mozambicans during construction, with contracts awarded to local companies “expected to amount to more than USD 4 billion”.

Security is deemed to have improved in Cabo Delgado, particularly with the deployment of Rwandan soldiers around the Afungi construction site. But the delays have cost significant sums of money, forcing the project’s parties to renegotiate terms.

Environmental and human rights concerns

Environmental and human rights groups have denounced the development, claiming it will bring little benefit to Mozambicans, more than 80 percent of whom lived below the poverty line of $3 per day in 2022, according to World Bank data.

Campaign group Friends of the Earth has called the project “a carbon timebomb with huge climate impacts”, alleging that it has also become a lightning rod for human rights abuses, including  “killings, beheadings and entire communities fleeing the Cabo Delgado region”.

TotalEnergies is facing two legal proceedings in France, including a manslaughter investigation, after survivors and relatives of victims of the 2021 attack accused it of failing to protect its subcontractors.

It is also the subject of a complaint for “complicity in war crimes, torture and enforced disappearance” filed by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), a German NGO, with France’s national “anti-terrorism” prosecutor.

“The oil and gas major is accused of having directly financed and materially supported the Joint Task Force, composed of Mozambican armed forces, which between July and September 2021, allegedly detained, tortured and killed dozens of civilians on TotalEnergies’ gas site,” said ECCHR last month.

TotalEnergies rejects all the accusations.

A former Illinois sheriff’s deputy has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for fatally shooting a 36-year-old woman who called police to her home for help.

The 2024 killing of Sonya Massey sparked widespread protests amid a wider reckoning over police conduct towards Black residents in the United States.

Sean Grayson, 31, was convicted in October of second-degree murder for the fatal shooting. On Thursday, he received the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

During sentencing, Grayson apologised, saying he wished he could bring Massey back. His lawyer had asked for a sentence of six years.

“I made a lot of mistakes that night. There were points when I should’ve acted, and I didn’t. I froze,” he said during the hearing. “I made terrible decisions that night. I’m sorry.”

Massey, who suffered from mental health issues, had called police to her home in the Illinois state capital, Springfield, saying she was afraid of a prowler outside.

Body camera footage of her exchange with police showed that Massey appeared confused, repeating, “Please, God.”

Inside her home, Grayson noticed a boiling pot of water and asked Sheriff’s Deputy Dawson Farley to move it. Instead, Massey went to the stove and picked up the pot, appearing to tease Grayson for moving away from “the hot, steaming water”.

She then said: “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”

Grayson drew his firearm. Massey set the pot down and ducked behind a counter. When she appeared to pick up the pot again, Grayson opened fire, hitting Massey three times in the face.

During the trial, Massey’s parents and two children said their lives had been forever changed.

“Today, I’m afraid to call the police in fear that I might end up like Sonya,” her mother Donna Massey said during the hearing.

Massey’s daughter Summer told reporters on Thursday that “20 years is not enough”.

Grayson was initially charged with three counts of first-degree murder, which could have led to a life sentence. However, the jury convicted him of the lesser charge of second-degree murder, arguing that evidence shows that Grayson honestly thought he was in danger.

Massey’s killing sparked a US Justice Department inquiry, after which the Sangamon County agreed to implement more de-escalation training for law enforcement and collect more use-of-force data.

The controversy also prompted the sheriff who hired Grayson to retire.

Yemen’s conflict is entering yet another volatile chapter, not towards peace, but into a sharper power struggle. Former partners Saudi Arabia and the UAE are drifting apart, local factions are recalculating, and control of the south and east hangs in the balance, while the Houthis hold firm in the north. As alliances fracture and air power looms, millions of civilians remain hungry and displaced. What future is being decided over their heads?

In this episode: 

• Abubakr Al-Shamahi, Al Jazeera Editor

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Marcos Bartolomé, Melanie Marich with Phillip Lanos, Spencer Cline, Sarí el-Khalili, Tuleen Barakat, Maya Hamadeh, and our guest host, Kevin Hirten. It was edited by Tamara Khandaker and Alexandra Locke. 

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan.  Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad al-Melhemm. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.

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What’s behind the organization of protests in Minneapolis? The city has seen the mobilization of local rapid response networks, mutual aid groups, and observers like Alex Pretti, who was fatally shot by federal immigration agents. Organizers are drawing on lessons from movements that emerged after the 2020 police killing of George Floyd, building a sustained movement for community defense.

In this episode: 

• Marcia Howard (@marciahoward38thstreet), President of Minneapolis Federation of Educators, Local 59, Community Steward of George Floyd Square

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Chloe K. Li and Sarí el-Khalili, with Phillip Lanos, Spencer Cline, Tamara Khandaker, Tuleen Barakat, and our host, Malika Bilal. It was edited by Alexandra Locke.

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad al-Melhemm. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio. 

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The Doomsday Clock has reached the closest ever point to midnight, according to the atomic scientists who run it.

They say more wars, aggression from nuclear powers and weaker arms controls are to blame, along with climate change and risks posed by AI.

So, should we be worried?

Presenter: Cyril Vanier

Guests:

Karim Haggag – Director at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute

Ramesh Srinivasan – Professor at UCLA Department of Information Studies and host of the podcast, Utopias