As Rashad al-Alimi, the head of the internationally renowned Presidential Leadership Council, issued a warning against unilateral military actions by southern separatists, tensions are still high in Yemen.
Al-Alimi warned that serious consequences would result from further advancements by separatists from the Southern Transitional Council (STC) in Hadramout and al-Mahra provinces.
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His warning came after STC forces took control of the resource-rich provinces in a surprise offensive in December. Riyadh claimed that the United Arab Emirates is trying to smuggle the STC, and Riyadh warned that Yemen’s security is threatened by the STC’s presence in Yemeni provinces that border Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia’s security is being supported by the UAE, which has refuted those claims.
The STC, in contrast, has rejected al-Alimi’s rule and vowed that its fighters will remain in the provinces that Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni government want them to leave.
The organization announced a new agreement on Wednesday night that would increase its presence further by putting additional separatist forces there. Official responses to this announcement have not been made by the Yemeni government or Saudi Arabia.
In a video posted on X, STC spokesperson Mohammed al-Naqeeb stated that the group’s units would continue operating in the seized areas. However, he added that they would be coordinated with the Saudi-led coalition and the “Homeland Shield” forces.
a solitary withdrawal
Salem al-Khanbashi, the governor of Hadramout, claimed that the STC’s response to official requests for a withdrawal had been constrained.
He urged the separatists to leave Hadramout and return to their original positions in an Arabic interview with Al Jazeera. He claimed he hoped there would be no bloodshed and that continued defiance could lead to province-level hostility.
After two ships leaving Fujairah, the Saudi-led coalition launched airstrikes on weapons and military vehicles at the port of Mukalla on Tuesday. STC is in charge of Mulla.
Saudi Arabia claimed that the UAE was sending military equipment to the STC as its troops gained access to Hadramout and al-Mahra, calling it a “red line.”
The accusation was refuted in Abu Dhabi. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the UAE described the allegations as “allegations,” but it later announced that Yemen’s “counterterrorism” teams had finished their last mission.
The STC, which wants to annex southern Yemen, made its most recent military moves in early December, disregarding local and regional calls for resumption.
As partygoers celebrated the new year’s eve in a ski resort early on Thursday morning, “dozens” of people were killed and more than 100 others were hurt, according to Swiss police.
What transpired?
According to a statement released on Thursday, a fire broke out at 1: 30 am (00:30 GMT) at Le Constellation, a bar in the heart of the posh Alpine ski resort town of Crans-Montana in southwest Switzerland.
The border with Bern, the capital of Switzerland, is about 200 kilometers south of Crans-Montana.
According to Gaetan Lathion, a police spokesperson in Wallis canton in southwest Switzerland, “there has been an explosion of unknown origin.”
The town’s bar is a well-known tourist destination. More than 100 people were present at the time of the incident, according to Swiss media outlet Blick, citing police.
What are the victims’ details known to us?
Without giving an exact number, Frederic Gisler, the police commander in the Valais Canton in southwest Switzerland, told reporters at a press conference on Thursday that “several dozens” of people were presuming to be dead. More than 100 people were injured, he added.
The Italian foreign ministry later reported that about 40 people had died, according to the Italian foreign ministry, quoting Swiss police.
According to a source in the medical sector, burn victims have flooded hospitals in French-speaking Switzerland. According to regional councillor Mathias Renard, the majority of the injured were in serious condition. Some victims, according to police, were from other nations.
He continued that the intensive care unit at Valais Hospital is full and that patients are being moved elsewhere.
On January 1, 2026, in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, a fire that broke out during a celebration of the new year, injuring and killing people, in Crans-Montana.
What has the government done?
10 helicopters, 40 ambulances, and 150 firefighters responded to the scene after being called to the fire. According to the police, the majority of the injured have “significant” burns or “significant” injuries. The Valais hospital has treated many patients.
A no-fly zone over Crans-Montana has been established, and the area around the bar has been completely closed off to the general public.
There is no current information on the possible causes of the fire.
Although we’re only just starting to investigate, Lathion referred to this as an “internationally renowned ski resort with a lot of tourists.”
The Valais canton’s prosecutor-general, Beatrice Pilloud, stated at the press conference that “we are currently favoring a fire and there is no question of any attack.”
Lathion added that a support line and reception desk (+1 41 848 112 117) have been established to assist families who have been affected. He continued, “The intervention is still ongoing.”
How frequent is this kind of incident in Switzerland?
In Switzerland, incidents like this are uncommon; recent fires and explosions have been minor.
In northern Switzerland, a blast that left two people dead in an underground parking garage and inflicted 11 injuries on two in June 2024 led to the discovery of the bodies of two people who had been killed. Local authorities confirmed that homemade fireworks had caused the explosion.
3, 000 tonnes of World War II ammunition that had been buried in the mountains above Mitholz, were the site of perhaps the biggest explosion in Swiss history in December 1947 at Mitholz Ammunition Depot. There were nine fatalities and several injuries.
During the New Year’s Eve festivities in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana, an explosion and fire ripped through a well-known bar. At least 10 people have died and many more have been injured, according to the police.
One unmistakable truth persists today: children around the world are facing their greatest levels of need in modern history; they are also facing their own, greatest levels of need; theirs; theirs; futures; isnbsp; battling;nbsp; some of its biggest challenges in decades.
The world’s efforts for development and humanitarianism abruptly slowed down in 2025. Billions of dollars disappeared overnight when the United States abruptly stopped providing foreign aid in January. Millions of people suddenly lost access to food, healthcare, education, and protection after critic programs were suspended and offices  closed. Children, as always, paid the price for the disruption of lifelines that communities had depended on for decades.
The shock was severe and immediate for international NGOs. We had to make some of the toughest decisions in Save the Children’s 106-year history. We had to shut down life-saving operations, close national offices, and eliminate thousands of staff members. We estimated that approximately 11.5 million people, including 6.7 million children, would experience these cuts’ immediate effects, while many others would experience long-term effects.
Children around the world are already facing significant challenges, from conflict to displacement to climate change, with decades of progress at risk of being reversed, as a result of the aid cuts.
The facts are shocking. One in every five children were living in a conflict zone in 2025, where children are being murdered, maimed, sexually assaulted, and kidnapped in unprecedented numbers. Worldwide, there are about 50 million children who have been displaced from their homes. About 1.12 billion children in the world are unable to get a balanced diet, and 272 million of them are not in school.
These figures indicate a global failure. A child’s childhood is being sabotaged, characterized by fear, hunger, and potential, hidden beneath each statistic.
The end of aid was a deeply personal choice for children rather than an abstract one. As the violence, climate shocks, and displacement increased, protection services were shut down, classrooms were closed, and health clinics were closed. Millions of children were suddenly at risk of losing years of hard-won experience in child survival, education, and rights, making them even more vulnerable to hunger, exploitation, and violence.
The global aid system itself is fragile, which was also revealed by the crisis. When a select few government donors receive the bulk of their aid, children’s lives are directly affected by sudden political shifts. The events of 2025 demonstrated how quickly international commitments can fail and how devastating that can be for the least-protected and youngest.
However, something extraordinary transpired in the midst of this chaos.
Families, teachers, health workers, and local organizations found ways to continue learning, provide care, and make spaces where kids can still play, heal, and feel safe in many places. These efforts emphasized a simple truth: Responses are strongest when they are directly related to children.
There were also progressing times. Important legal reforms improved children’s protection in a year marked by uprisings against human rights, including the passage of a digital protection law in Bolivia and the ban on corporal punishment in Thailand. These advancements served as a reminder that even in difficult times, when children’s rights are at the center of public debate and policy, can change be possible.
A moment of reckoning and an opportunity have arisen from the shocks of 2025: adapt, innovate, and follow policies that are more ethical, locally informed, and accountable to the people they are supposed to serve. This change is crucial for children. Decisions made closer to communities are more likely to reflect the real needs and aspirations of children.
Important issues that cannot be postponed have also been revived during this era of reinvention. How can political unrest be avoided for life-saving assistance? How can funding be divided up so that no one leaves the children when a single donor leaves? And how can young people and children make important decisions about their futures?
Innovation alone cannot save children, but it can. Access, accountability, and trust can be improved when data, digital tools, and community-led design are responsibly used. They increase inequality if used improperly. The issue is political and ethical, not technological.
Because bombs fall or aid becomes ineffective, children continue to want to learn, play, or dream. They organize, speak out, and envision futures that adults have failed to secure for them in camps, cities, and ruined neighbourhoods. They serve as a reminder of how crucial our work and adaptability are.
I witnessed the horrors that children are living through every day in Gaza, where the conflict has raged for more than two years and where the Strip is largely covered in rubble. In our healthcare facilities, I witnessed children who were suffering from malnutrition and who now wished to pass away to join their parents in heaven. There should never be a child living in such a terrifying environment as death. They need to be heard because they are children.
If the old aid model’s failures are exposed in 2025, 2026 must become a turning point. A different option that is based on local leadership and held accountable to the children they claim to serve is a possibility. The key is now to reshape our systems so that children always and everywhere are put first, regardless of how the world changes.
In retaliation for US President Donald Trump’s decision to forbid their citizens from entering the US visa this month, Mali and Burkinabe have announced they will impose full visa bans on their citizens.
The two West African nations are the latest to impose “tit-for-tat” visa restrictions on the US, which are both governed by the military. These are in addition to Trump’s new visa restrictions, which are currently in effect for 39 African, Asian, Middle Eastern, and Latin American nations. According to the White House, they were put in place for “national security” reasons.
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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation informs the country and the world that the government of the Republic of Mali will immediately impose the same restrictions and requirements on American citizens as they do for Malian citizens, according to a statement from the ministry.
Karamoko Jean-Marie Traore, the foreign minister of Burkinabe, referenced a reciprocity rule in a separate statement regarding the visa ban in his country.
Which nations have outlawed US citizens from applying for visas?
Laos, Niger, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and Syria are among the countries that are currently exempt from US visa restrictions, as announced in the US directive on December 16.
The Palestinian Authority’s travel documents were also prohibited from entering the US as a result of the order.
For the reason for the ban, the US cited the countries’ poor screening and vetting capabilities, information-sharing practices, visa overstay rates, and refusal to accept back their deported citizens.
Countries were also surveyed based on their “significant terrorist presence,” according to Trump’s order, which included a list of nations.
On Thursday, the US ban will become effective.
For years, armed groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) have been using violence in Mali, Burkinabe, and neighboring Niger. Millions of civilians have been displaced by the violence there.
Niger imposed a ban on entry for US citizens on Friday, citing the US’s ban on citizens as well. Similar to its neighbors Mali and Burkinabe, the nation is also militarily governed. In order to address security issues and strengthen trade relations, all three formed the Alliance of Sahel States in July 2024.
With an exception for US officials, Chad stopped issuing visas to Americans on June 6 in its own reciprocal move. Prior to June 9, only US citizens who were issued visas are now permitted to enter the country.
The United States was first listed among the 12 countries whose citizens the Trump administration imposed a full visa ban on starting June 9.
On December 23, 2025, at the Alliance of Sahel States summit in Bamako, Mali, Ibrahim Traoré, president of Burkinabe, poses with Assimi Gota, second from left.
Which nations are impacted by the ban on US visas?
According to the US-based Council on Foreign Relations think tank, citizens of 39 nations are currently subject to full or partial immigration restrictions.
Those that are completely prohibited are:
Afghanistan
Burkinabe
Chad
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Haiti
Iran
Laos
Libya
Mali
Myanmar
Niger
Congo Republic
Sierra Leone
Somalia
South Sudan
Sudan
Syria
Yemen
Additionally, Palestinian Authority travelers’ travel documents are essentially prohibited.
Those who are partially restricted are:
Angola
Antigua and Barbuda
Benin
Burundi
Cuba
Dominica
Gabon
Gambia
Ivory Coast
Malawi
Mauritania
Nigeria
Senegal
Tanzania
Togo
Tonga
Turkmenistan
Venezuela
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Trump specifically aims to ban visas in Africa.
In his second term as president of the United States, Trump addressed the issue of visa entry for people from three African countries, including Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and Iran, with the exception of his first administration’s “Muslim ban.”
Sudan was added while Chad was added in later versions of the ban.
Since Trump’s election on January 20, most nations have been subject to US entry restrictions. 26 of the 39 affected nations are African.
How have trade relations between the US and Africa changed under Trump?
Tradewise, the US has switched from its preferential African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) trade regime to a tariff-based tariff-based system, which has also been used by most other countries worldwide as a result of Trump’s tariffs policy.
From 2000, AGOA granted African nations duty-free access to US markets, boosting their ability to export a range of goods, including cars and wine.
According to the US-based Center for Strategic International Studies, AGOA created 300, 000 jobs in African nations and indirectly sustained another 1.2 million.
However, AGOA expired in September as a result of the US Congress’s delaying. No steps have been taken to revive the program despite the Trump administration’s declaration that it supports a one-year extension.
Instead, tariffs are frequently high for African nations because the US occasionally uses political justifications to justify them.
For instance, after Trump refuted claims that there was a “genocide” against the country’s white Afrikaner minority, South Africa, the richest nation, was subject to a 30% tariff. Since then, the US government has given Afrikaners’ resettlement as refugees priority.
When Trump met with him at the White House in May, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa explained that crime in the nation targeted the entire population, not just its white citizens. However, he was unable to persuade him.
In a bid to compete with China, which processes 90% of the world’s rare earth metals and mines about 60% of them, Trump’s administration is also giving priority to its access to crucial rare earth minerals, which are used to create high-tech devices.
Following the DRC government’s suggestion to negotiate a minerals deal with the US, Trump stepped up as a mediator in the conflict between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and neighboring Rwanda this year. Rwanda is accused by the US and the UN of supporting an M23-led rebellion in the eastern DRC.
Trump, who underwent diplomatic pressure on Rwanda on December 4, successfully secured a peace agreement between the two nations. He did not agree to US military action in the DRC.
Despite the peace agreement, M23 continues to attack civilians.
The DRC’s and Rwanda’s mineral reserves, which include cobalt, copper, lithium, and gold, were granted to US companies with a provision in the pact.
On May 21, 2025, US President Donald Trump and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa meet in the White House’s Oval Office.
What about collaborating in security and aid?
Many African nations who were incredibly dependent on the US Agency for International Development, the largest donor of humanitarian and medical aid, were affected by the Trump administration’s decision to close the US Agency for International Development in early 2025.
Since then, Somalia, northern Kenya, and northeastern Kenya have reported rising hunger.
Additionally, health experts and analysts have raised concerns about the potential harm to efforts to stop and stop the spread of HIV in Lesotho and South Africa.
Officials in northern Cameroon have discovered a rise in malaria deaths as a result of decreased drug supplies. Under the condition that Cameroon raises its own annual health spending from $22 million to $450 million, the US unilaterally pledged $400 million in health funding to the nation over the next five years.
When Trump recalled 30 career diplomats from 29 nations last week, former president Joe Biden was also among the most seriously affected African countries.
Algeria, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Madagascar, Mauritius, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia, and Uganda were the 15 of them who were stationed in Africa.
Similar to the strikes carried out by Trump during his first term in office, which included those against ISIL and al-Qaeda, between 2017 and 2021.
According to the US-based New America Foundation think tank, the US launched strikes in Somalia in September in response to al-Shabab and the ISIL affiliate in Somalia Province.
On Thursday, the US made its first offensive against ISIL and al-Qaeda-linked groups in northwest Nigeria.
The two nations engaged in a narrative war even though those strikes were carried out in collaboration with the Nigerian government.
The US claims to be “saving” Nigerian Christians from a genocide.
