Mark Weston

17% of Brits think it's acceptable to pay the Taliban to take back Afghan migrants who fled the Taliban because it wanted to kill them.

Sudan Clinic Workers Killed in Zamzam Camp Relief International said nine employees were killed when gunmen stormed the Zamzam camp in El Fasher, in the western Darfur region.

The #RSF attack on Zam-Zam camp continues today.

On Friday, they killed "the entire staff of the last medical clinic" left for at least 500,000 people. #Sudan #Darfur
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/12/w...

Continuing its aid cuts, the United States ends emergency food aid via the WFP, which it had previously pledged to spare. @apnews.com apnews.com/article/usai...

New measles death in TX - a child. C/w last week:

CURRENT CASE COUNT: 569
Texas: 481 (+59)
New Mexico: 54 (+6)
Oklahoma: 10
Kansas: 24 (+1)

HOSPITALIZATIONS: 58 (+14)
Texas: 56 (+14) have been hospitalized, 11.6%.
New Mexico: 2 (No change). This is 4.5% of NM cases.

DEATHS: 3 (+1)

Why Maids Keep Dying in Saudi Arabia East African leaders and Saudi royals are among those profiting off a lucrative, deadly trade in domestic workers.

"At least 274 Kenyan workers, mostly women, have died in #Saudi Arabia in the past 5 years ... Autopsy reports ... describe women with evidence of trauma, including burns and electric shocks, all labeled natural deaths."
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/16/w...

The coach I'm on in central Ghana just stopped for fuel. Towards the end of the fuelling process, the driver and another guy started rocking the bus to make sure the tank would be filled right to the brim. "This Ghana," the driver told me with a smile when he saw me watching.

The road between Ghana's two main cities, Accra and Kumasi, is in a parlous state. Even on a Saturday, the 150-mile journey has taken almost six hours.

Dozens killed in strike on market in Sudan’s North Darfur Local rights groups accuse military of carrying out attack as army spokesperson says civilians not targeted.

#Sudan This is horrific - there really is no 'good side' in this war www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/202...

Sudanese army seizes full control of presidential palace in Khartoum, Sudan TV and military sources say The Sudanese army seized full control of the Presidential Palace in Khartoum, Sudan state TV and military sources said, in one of the most significant advances in a two-year-old conflict threatening to fracture the country.

The Sudanese army seized full control of the Presidential Palace in Khartoum on Friday, Sudan state TV and military sources said, in one of the most significant advances in a two-year-old conflict threatening to fracture the country reut.rs/41GqP1b

Turkey Arrests Istanbul Mayor, Key Rival to President Erdogan Ekrem Imamoglu was detained at his home, according to prosecutors, who said the charges against him were related to corruption and terrorism.

The detention of Erdoğan’s main rival marks a phase shift in governance in Turkey, to brute-force authoritarianism

www.nytimes.com/2025/03/19/w...

More dire news from post-truth US:

It’s only fascism if it’s exactly like 1930s Europe, otherwise it’s just sparkling far right, hyper-nationalist populism that deploys antisemitic & racist propaganda in defense of a nostalgic concept of the traditional patriarchal family supposedly besieged by culturally-foreign & degenerate others.

I don’t think I’m going to be sleeping very well for *checks notes* the rest of this administration. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/12/n...

A recent report showed that the destruction of just one USAID program, the anti-AIDS PEPFAR initiative, would lead to the deaths of one million people *every year* www.vox.com/future-perfe...

Amazon rainforest cut down to build highway for COP climate summit The infrastructure required to host climate talks in Belém is undermining the cause, campaigners say.

“A new four-lane highway cutting through tens of thousands of acres of protected Amazon rainforest is being built for the COP30 climate summit in the Brazilian city of Belém.”

The number of civilians casualties from #drone strikes in #Ethiopia is rising sharply with the arrival of new Turkish #drones. The lackluster international attitude on drone warfare is sending states on a killing spree. Strong piece by @zekuzelalem.bsky.social
ecfr.eu/publication/...

Yes, Lowe is even more of an extremist than Farage:

Postcard from Trumpland

Guinea-Bissau looks like it might be the next West African country to leave ECOWAS and, supported by Russia, dump democracy: apnews.com/article/guin...

There’s a Term for What Trump and Musk Are Doing How regime change happens in America

Since writing this article, I have received messages from federal civil servants who tell me it is accurate, and that they are frightened. Please share this with anyone who doesn't understand the scale of the transformation.

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

UAE: Ahmed Mansoor’s 15-Year Sentence Upheld An Emirati court upheld an abusive 15-year sentence on March 4, 2025, against the prominent Emirati human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor, who was convicted following a fundamentally unfair trial.

Earlier this week an Emirati court upheld an abusive 15-year sentence against prominent Emirati human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor.

The UAE continues to target a man who courageously stood up to his abusive govt even when very few would dare.

www.hrw.org/news/2025/03...

Evidence of torture found as detention centre and mass grave discovered outside Khartoum Exclusive: What appears to be a vast burial site found at former Rapid Support Forces base in Sudan, while rescued detainees speak of torture, starvation and deaths of fellow inmates

RSF mass grave containing the bodies of over 500 civilians, most of whom had been tortured and starved, found outside Khartoum: www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Happy Ghanaian Independence Day

Sudanese starve as soup kitchens close down and warring parties block aid The pause in USAID funding is exacerbating the hunger crisis in Sudan and compounding the challenge for relief workers.

The freeze on USAID funding risks exacerbating an already catastrophic hunger crisis in #Sudan, caused by the warring parties who have blocked and weaponised aid throughout the war.

My latest for Al Jazeera.

aje.io/oepv5a

The US will no longer worry about civilians getting in the way of their bombs:
www.nytimes.com/live/2025/03...

People Are Paying Millions to Dine With Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago Business leaders are paying as much as $5,000,000 to meet one-on-one with the president at his Florida compound, sources tell WIRED, while others are paying $1,000,000 apiece to dine with him in a…

SCOOP: Business leaders are paying as much as $5,000,000 to meet one-on-one with President Donald Trump at his Florida compound, sources tell WIRED, while others are paying $1,000,000 apiece to dine with him in a group setting.

"#Ghanaians realised the urgency of the crisis when the state-owned water company cut its water supply by 75%, saying it couldn’t handle the levels of chemicals being spewed by gold mining. Ghana may have to start importing water if the situation doesn’t rapidly improve" www.ft.com/content/57b7...

Nigel Farage says that Elon Musk and Steve Bannon's Nazi salutes were "not really Nazi salutes" because "they were out to the side."

Breaking Down Prime Minister Starmer’s Aid Cut Yesterday, the UK’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that he would fund an increase in the UK’s defence spending by cutting to its aid budget from 0.5 percent of gross national income (GNI) now, ...

The UK aid cut will mean only 0.17% of gross national income - not the stated 0.3% - goes to overseas projects, by far the lowest share among G7 countries: www.cgdev.org/blog/breakin...

Rubio terminated 5800 USAID contracts – more than 90% of its foreign aid programs – in defiance of the courts.

Here’s a list of just some of the lifesaving awards that were terminated. Nearly all were Congressionally mandated. They’ve saved millions of lives. 🧵