Despite the sweltering heat, the pilgrims gathered on the rocky hill and the surrounding plain for worship that often marks a spiritual peak for the faithful, fervently murmured prayers and poured their hearts out in supplication.

Many raised their hands in worship. It is common for pilgrims on that day, some with tears streaming down their faces, to ask God for forgiveness, mercy, blessings and good health.

The Hajj, one of the Five Pillars of Islam, is required once in a lifetime for every Muslim who can afford it and is physically able to perform it.

For pilgrims, the Hajj, performed over several days, can be a deeply moving spiritual experience and a chance to seek God’s forgiveness and the erasure of past sins.  As they brave the intense heat to perform religious rituals, many pilgrims have been using umbrellas for shade.

A Saudi official said on May 22 that more than 1.5 million pilgrims have arrived in the country from abroad.

The Hajj brings together large numbers of Muslims of diverse races, ethnicities, languages and socioeconomic classes, creating a sense of unity for many. It’s a mass, communal experience, with Muslims performing rituals together. But it is also deeply personal, as every pilgrim brings their own yearnings and experiences. (AP)

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Africa held continent-wide celebrations on May 25 to mark Africa Day 2026—the 63rd anniversary of an occasion dedicated to “unity, integration, and development.” 

It is a time of celebration, but as African Union Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf stated on May 21 during a high-level security dialogue in Gabon, the continent must also adapt with unity and strategic clarity amid the shortcomings of multilateralism and an increasingly polarized global order.

Here, RT looks at the importance of Africa Day as well as the current context for this year’s festivities.

What happened on May 25?

For more than six decades, May 25 has been a day of reflection and commemoration. Each year, Africa Day celebrates independence and unity—but beneath the festivities lie unresolved questions about colonialism, slavery, and justice.

The continent reflects on both victories and ongoing struggles, including debates over reparations, and a spotlight on Africa’s role in a changing world order.

On May 25, 1963, 32 African leaders gathered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to establish the Organization of African Unity (OAU)—a landmark institution born from the struggle against colonialism and racial oppression.

Among those who helped lead the creation were Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Ethiopia’s Haile Selassie, who was elected the OAU’s first chairman at the founding summit, Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, Leopold Sedar Senghor of Senegal, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, and Ahmed Sekou Toure of Guinea.

Their stated mission was to defend sovereignty, promote unity, and support nations still under colonial or minority rule.  While the OAU was succeeded by the African Union (AU) in 2002, Africa Day remains an annual marker of both independence and intercontinental solidarity.

Why does it matter today?

Today, the AU frames Africa Day with forward-looking themes—each year’s focus is a statement of political intent.

In 2026, the continent is marking the “Year of Assuring Sustainable Water Availability and Safe Sanitation Systems to Achieve the Goals of  Agenda 2063.” According to the 55-member organization, millions across the continent still lack access to safe water and basic sanitation—a crisis that it said drains productivity and threatens food security and regional stability.

The continent faces escalating conflicts, including in Sudan, where a civil war that erupted in 2023 has killed thousands of civilians, ongoing violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and a sprawling jihadist insurgency across the Sahel—all of which worsen humanitarian strains.

Last year, the AU highlighted “Justice for Africans and People of African Descent through Reparations,” a theme that forced global institutions to confront centuries of slavery and colonial exploitation. In March 2026, the UN formally declared the Transatlantic Slave Trade as “the gravest crime against humanity,” in a Ghana-led resolution backed by the AU.

How is Africa Day celebrated?

Across the continent, governments stage official ceremonies, policy announcements, and diplomatic meetings. Communities mark the day with music, dance, fashion, and food. Schools and universities host debates and exhibitions that connect Pan-African ideals to the AU’s long-term plans, including Agenda 2063.

In countries such as Gambia, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Lesotho, Mali, Mauritania, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, the day is legally marked as a national public holiday. 

According to an AU program, this year’s commemoration—the 63rd anniversary of the OAU-AU—is being marked at the organization’s headquarters in Addis Ababa over three days, with sports events, cultural showcases, exhibitions, an official ceremony, and statements from dignitaries including the AU chairperson, Ethiopian representatives, and the dean of the diplomatic corps in Ethiopia.

Beyond the continent, Moscow has been holding official Africa Day receptions for at least the past two decades, amid Russia’s growing relations with African nations.

At last year’s event, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the date held “profound significance” not only for Africans, but “for all humanity,” describing it as a symbol of the continent’s struggle to overcome its colonial past and pursue freedom and justice.

What are the challenges that lie ahead?

Despite the festive trappings, Africa Day exposes fault lines, with the continent’s demands for global representation and historical redress still deeply contested. Its longstanding push for a permanent seat at the UN Security Council has yet to produce the reform African leaders have demanded.

AUC Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf said last week that Africa was “not asking for a favor,” but demanding the correction of a “historical injustice,” arguing that the council’s credibility depends on whether it reflects today’s world rather than the geopolitical order of 1945.

Disagreements also persist over the practicality of reparations, the responsibility of modern states, and the lingering global inequities rooted in centuries of exploitation.

The U.S. has said it does not recognize a legal right to reparations for historical wrongs, while Britain and several other European states have resisted compensation demands over slavery and colonial-era abuses, arguing that present-day governments cannot be held legally liable for actions committed centuries ago.

Across the continent, leaders have continued to denounce neocolonial pressure, pointing to foreign military footprints, unequal financial structures, debt burdens, and external control over strategic resources as obstacles to full sovereignty.

In Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, France has lost its military presence amid allegations that it has been sponsoring militants behind the long-running jihadist insurgency in the Sahel. (RT.com)

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Testimonies published May 26 from activists, journalists, medical professionals, and others who took part in the latest international flotilla attempting to break Israel’s genocidal siege of Gaza called for an investigation into U.S. complicity in their illegal high-seas abduction and alleged torture, sexual assault, and other abuse by Israeli forces.

“As testimonies from the 428 participants illegally kidnapped by the Israeli regime continue to surface, the United States’ critical role in the abuses and torture of humanitarian volunteers and journalists has become undeniable,” Global Sumud Flotilla’s (GSF) media team said in a statement.

“This role goes beyond the State Department’s diplomatic shielding and the U.S. Embassy’s refusal to assist American families seeking information,” GSF continued.

“It includes the very ship on which volunteer participants were illegally detained and tortured, and the weapons used to inflict life-threatening trauma against them.”

That vessel, the amphibious landing ship INS Nahshon, was built by Bollinger Mississippi Shipbuilding in Louisiana and was fully financed by the U.S. government.

GSF activists first became aware of what they now call the “torture boat” when it was used to detain members of the previous Gaza-bound flotilla, dozens of whom required medical attention for broken ribs, noses, and other injuries inflicted by Israeli forces.

This time, according to GSF, “detained humanitarians, doctors, and journalists were processed one by one through a darkened shipping container. Inside, groups of three to five soldiers systematically brutalized each person who came through the door while those waiting outside listened to the screams.”

Flotilla participant Yassine Benjelloun described his mistreatment by his Israeli captors.

“All of a sudden I hear, ‘Welcome to Israel.’ And I start getting hit, like first hit on the head, second hit in the ribs, then I fall, then they kick me,” he said. “What lasts maybe three or five minutes seems like a lifetime. You don’t know that the door is going to open, and they’re going to kick you out.”

Dr. Jihan Alya Mohd Nordin, a Malaysian physician aboard the flotilla, documented 35 GSF members with fractured or dislocated bones, as well as severe head injuries including concussions and eye or ear trauma, and 14 cases of sexual assault.

“Being a doctor, the main aim is to reduce the sufferings of people,” Jihan said. “But when we cannot do anything to help them, it was the worst and most horrible feeling that I have. It was so devastating.”

Dr. Jihan said she was shoved, struck, punched, kicked, and choked by her captors, who forcibly stripped off her hijab.

In addition to the ship, the weapons used against the civilian flotilla members were also made in the USA. “Stun grenades and metal-bearing projectile rounds were identified by manufacturer markings as products of Combined Tactical Systems (CTS),

A brand of the Jamestown, Pennsylvania-based weapons manufacturer Combined Systems Inc. (CSI),” GSF said. “These weapons were fired at close range in enclosed spaces against participants who were sitting down or trying to sleep, a direct violation of the manufacturer’s own usage guidelines.”

GSF argues that “none of this was accidental.”

According to former State Department official Josh Paul—who resigned in protest in 2023 over U.S. arms transfers to Israel as it began waging a genocidal war against Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack of October 7 of that year—“Under U.S. law, arms transfers must only be made for purposes authorized by law.”

“INS Nahshon’s use by Israel to conduct an illegal seizure in international waters, and then to act as a base for the torture and sexual assault of foreign civilians, including Americans, who had broken no laws, and were acting from conscience to serve an urgent humanitarian need, plainly and grievously violates those terms,” he continued.

“When this sale was authorized, U.S. officials will have asked themselves how Israel might use this platform,” Paul added. “The basis on which they should have denied this transfer has been there since at least the Mavi Marmara incident …

But is now more clear than ever, and the lesson here is a simple one: that anything we transfer to Israel, Israel will find a way to misuse—whether it is a bomb, a bulldozer, or a boat.”

Paul was referring to the May 2010 raid on one of the first Gaza Freedom Flotilla convoys, during which Israeli forces killed nine volunteers aboard the MV Mavi Marmara, including Turkish-American teenager Furkan Doğan.

“While international law has been flagrantly violated and legal proceedings are now active in Türkiye, Italy, and Spain, with Italian prosecutors opening an investigation into kidnapping and sexual assault, the U.S. government continues to look away,” GSF said in regard to the latest flotilla.

Americans aboard past Gaza flotillas said the Trump administration failed to provide any consular support during their abduction and abuse. This time, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee—a Christian Zionist who has denied the very existence of the Palestinian people—joined senior officials from other countries in condemning Israel’s abuse of abducted flotilla members.

GSF said May 26 that “the Israeli regime continues to commit genocide using U.S.-built ships and U.S.-made weapons. The torture of U.S. citizens and humanitarian volunteers with American-made tools is not an anomaly. It is the direct outcome of unconditional U.S. support for a regime continuously committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

That support includes tens of billions of dollars in armed aid during the Biden and Trump administrations, which both also provided diplomatic cover for Israel, including vetoes of numerous Gaza ceasefire resolutions passed by the United Nations Security Council.

Since October 2023, Israeli forces have killed or wounded more than 250,000 Palestinians in Gaza—including thousands of people who are missing and presumed dead and buried beneath rubble—while forcibly displacing, intentionally starving, or sickening around two million others.

Israel’s actions are the subject of an International Court of Justice genocide case filed by South Africa and formally supported by nearly 20 other nations. The International Criminal Court has also issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza, including murder and forced starvation.

Last year, a UN panel of experts said that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, a conclusion also reached by numerous governments, human rights groups, jurists, and scholars—including prominent Israeli and other Jewish Holocaust experts.

Flotilla participants have stressed that their ordeal pales in comparison to the plight of thousands of Palestinian men, women, and children imprisoned by Israel, often without charge or trial under the country’s administrative detention regime.

Israeli authorities are investigating the deaths of dozens of Palestinian prisoners, some of whom were allegedly tortured to death and executed. Others have allegedly been subjected to widespread rape and sexual abuse in Israeli detention.

“What GSF participants survived for days, many Palestinians endure indefinitely without lawyers or consular access,” the flotilla organizers said.

GSF is calling on the U.S. government to take actions, including the investigation of Israel’s use of US-origin arms and other equipment to abuse American citizens, a suspension of arms transfers to Israel pending the outcome of the probe, and “end unconditional military and diplomatic support for a regime committing genocide.”

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Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the indictment at Miami’s Freedom Tower, a historic site associated with Cuban migration to the United States.

Federal prosecutors allege that Raúl Castro, who served as head of Cuba’s Revolutionary Armed Forces at the time, ordered the destruction of the aircraft.

The indictment includes charges of conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, destruction of aircraft, and four counts of murder. The legal action comes more than 30 years after the Feb. 24, 1996, incident.

Raúl Castro is the younger brother of freedom fighter and revolutionary, Comandante Fidel Castro, whom the U.S. targeted for decades.

The charges against the younger Castro may be largely symbolic unless Cuba agrees to extradite him, which remains highly unlikely. Cuba has historically refused U.S. extradition requests involving political matters.

However, in 2020, former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro was charged with drug offenses, an accusation Mr. Maduro denied. However, in January of this year, U.S. forces kidnapped and captured Mr. Maduro and his wife and transported them to New York for trial.

Delcy Rodríguez is now serving as the Acting President of Venezuela. During the military operation, a reported 32 Cubans, primarily members of Cuba’s armed forces and intelligence agencies, were killed. Venezuela and Cuba have been longtime allies.

The indictment of Raúl Castro quickly drew sharp criticism from Havana, which denounced the move as “an infamous act of political provocation” and rejected U.S. jurisdiction over Cuban officials.

In a statement posted on X by the Cuban Embassy in Washington, the Cuban government defended the 1996 action as “an act of legitimate self-defense.”  Cuban officials argued that the Brothers to the Rescue aircraft repeatedly violated Cuban airspace despite repeated diplomatic protests lodged with the U.S. between 1994 and 1996.

“The inaction of the U.S. government in the face of the warnings issued by Cuba at the time revealed its complicity,” the statement said.

The indictment has also sparked criticism inside the United States. Rep. Gregory Meeks, ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, while expressing criticism of Mr. Castro, warned that the indictment appeared “less like a pursuit of justice and more like a pretext for escalation.”

Rep. Meeks criticized the Trump administration’s tightening of sanctions and pressure campaign against Cuba, arguing that additional punitive measures would worsen humanitarian suffering on the island rather than produce democratic reforms.

The indictment has also reopened debate about Washington’s historical relationship with anti-Castro militant groups. A commentary published by Belly of the Beast Cuba argued that the U.S. has long applied a “double standard” regarding terrorism connected to Cuba.

The article referenced anti-Castro exile figures linked to violent attacks against Cuba, including the 1976 bombing of Cubana Flight 455 that killed 73 people.

International reaction to the recent indictment expanded on May 21 when China publicly condemned Washington’s actions. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun accused the U.S. of “abusing judicial means”

And using sanctions and legal pressure as tools against Cuba. Beijing called on Washington to end what it described as coercive policies and threats toward the island nation.  

China’s criticism comes amid growing global opposition to the Trump administration’s intensified sanctions regime against Cuba. Earlier this month, Beijing described expanded U.S. sanctions as “illegal” and said the measures violated international norms and Cuba’s right to development.  

Russia also expressed support for Havana following the indictment. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused Washington of “gross interference” in Cuba’s internal affairs and pledged continued support for the Cuban people amid mounting U.S. pressure.  

The case referenced in the indictment revives one of the most contentious episodes in modern U.S.-Cuba relations. Brothers to the Rescue, founded by Cuban exiles in Miami, initially conducted search-and-rescue missions for migrants at sea but later carried out provocative flights over Havana, including leaflet drops critical of the Cuban government.

On Feb. 24, 1996, Cuban fighter jets shot down two Cessna aircraft operated by the group. Cuba maintained the planes had violated its airspace, while the U.S. said the aircraft were in international airspace when they were destroyed.

Asked whether the United States expected Castro to face trial in a U.S. courtroom, A.G. Blanche declined to discuss possible extradition strategies but insisted the case was not merely symbolic.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla condemned the charges as “illegitimate and illegal,” while repeating Cuba’s longstanding characterization of Brothers to the Rescue as a hostile organization engaged in actions against Cuban sovereignty.

The same day the indictment was announced, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is of Cuban descent, posted a message in Spanish on X criticizing Cuba’s leadership and blaming the country’s economic hardships on government corruption and mismanagement rather than U.S. sanctions, which have been widely condemned as unjust.

Carlos Fernández de Cossío, Cuba’s deputy foreign minister, responded on social media, accusing U.S. officials of deliberately misleading the public about the impact of decades-long U.S. economic pressure on Cuba.

The U.S. has targeted and worked to dismantle the Cuban government and the spirit of the revolution started by Fidel Castro for decades. The U.S. government—through the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)—made numerous attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro over the years.

Cuba closed its official response by reaffirming support for Mr. Castro, stating: “The Cuban people reaffirm their unrestricted and unwavering support for Army General Raúl Castro Ruz.”

Final Call staff contributed to this report.

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Cuba’s government condemned the new sanctions as an act of genocide, and its foreign minister warned that it could put the U.S. on a path toward a violent conflict.

Secretary Rubio’s announcement followed the State Department’s decision to send staff to U.S. Southern Command in Miami, preparing for possible conflict with Cuba. This move added military backing to the foreign minister’s warning about a dangerous path.

He said the new sanctions target two Cuban business groups and a top executive, as part of the Trump administration’s push for regime change. The targets include GAESA, a military-run company that controls much of Cuba’s economy; its leader, Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera; and Moa Nickel S.A., which runs the metals and mining sector. 

The sanctions were imposed under Executive Order 14404, signed by President Trump on May 1. They target people and groups that support Cuba’s government and security forces. Secretary warned that more sanctions were likely.

These unjust and crippling sanctions have a wide impact. U.S. citizens, businesses, and banks are now banned from doing business with GAESA. Foreign companies or individuals who work with GAESA could also face penalties, such as losing access to the U.S. financial system.

In a recent interview with ABC News in Havana, Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla delivered Havana’s sharpest warning yet.

Mr. Rodríguez warned that the U.S. is on a “dangerous path” that could lead to a “bloodbath in Cuba,” and said he takes President Trump’s threats “very seriously,” adding that Cuba will “exercise its right for its legitimate defense” if attacked militarily.

Mr. Rodríguez was direct about negotiations. He said there has been “no progress” in talks with the U.S., and that Cuba’s political system or internal matters are “not on the table.” He also said using accusations against Cuba to justify military action is “forbidden by international law.”

Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemned the May 1, 2026, Executive Order, calling it a measure that “intensifies, to extreme and unprecedented levels, the economic, financial and commercial blockade against Cuba.”

The Ministry described the Treasury Department’s actions as “a ruthless act of economic aggression” that could lead to penalties for foreign companies and banks worldwide, even if they have no ties to U.S.-Cuba trade.

Mr. Rodríguez called the U.S. action “a collective punishment of a genocidal nature that condemns the entire nation and uses it as a hostage for purposes of domination.”

Washington’s press releases on its sanctions fail to show the harsh daily life of Cuba’s nearly 11 million people, who are already struggling under the weight of U.S. sanctions. In March 2026, the island’s power grid failed, leaving almost everyone without electricity for more than a day.

The country faces a growing humanitarian crisis, with limited access to food, water, and medicine. The average state salary is less than $13 a month. A carton of 30 eggs costs over 3,000 pesos, which is about a week’s pay. Medicines are in short supply at state pharmacies, forcing people to buy them on the black market.

Meanwhile, the suffering people face is very real.

Maria Elena Rodríguez, a retired teacher from Pinar del Río in western Cuba, told The New Humanitarian by phone that she has never faced such hardship. “Nothing compares to what we are living today,” she said.

She is now used to skipping at least one meal per day: “Sometimes I just don’t want to cook with coal. I am an asthmatic, and the smoke is very bad for me. Sometimes, I don’t have anything to eat, and the scarce food I find gets rotten after several hours without refrigeration.”

For many Cubans, leaving the country seems like the only option. Between 2021 and 2025, more than one million people left the island, and some say the real number is even higher. Many families now rely on money sent by relatives and friends abroad to buy food and medicine and to support small informal businesses.

Since January 2026, the U.S. has put in place more than 240 sanctions and stopped at least seven tankers, cutting Cuba’s energy imports by 80 to 90%. The effects were felt right away.

The Canadian mining company Sherritt International suspended all operations in Cuba following the new sanctions, leaving the island without its largest mining partner and 10 to 15% of its electricity supply.

A United Nations Special Rapporteur who recently visited Cuba urged the U.S. to lift its sanctions. The rapporteur noted that this is “the longest-running unilateral sanctions policy in U.S. foreign relations” and said it has hurt Cuban society, even though most countries oppose it.

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A United Nations expert on May 19 delivered a report offering evidence of systemic torture, brutality, and sexual abuse of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli captivity.

Alice Jill Edwards, the UN special rapporteur on torture, said she had gathered substantial evidence of torture and sexual violence committed by Israeli authorities against Arab citizens of Israel as well as Palestinian detainees from Gaza and the West Bank.

After Hamas’ attack on October 7, 2023, Israel not only launched a military assault on Gaza but also introduced emergency detention measures that Edwards argued “exposed Palestinian detainees to torture, potentially unlawful deaths, incommunicado detention, and degrading conditions.”

Among other things, Edwards’ report documents nine allegations of “rape, attempted rape, and threats of rape”; 11 allegations of “beatings, grabbing, electrocution, or mauling by dogs” of male detainees’ genitals;

23 allegations of “beatings with weapons or other objects, kicking, and punching”; five allegations of electrocution by electric batons or other devices; and four allegations of forced kneeling for periods lasting up to a full day.

The report also notes that 94 Palestinians died in custody from October 2023 through August 2025, although it acknowledges that “a lack of transparency into the cause of these deaths makes it unclear which deaths are attributed to natural causes or unlawful conduct.”

However, the report cites a review of 10 postmortem examinations of detainees who died in Israeli custody, which found signs of physical abuse in five cases, and signs of bruising “consistent with beatings and use of restraints” in two cases.

“Findings also included multiple rib fractures, hemorrhages on the skin and near internal organs, and lacerations of intra-abdominal organs,” the report adds.  “One case documented intracranial hemorrhage resulting from a head injury apparently sustained during arrest.”

Edwards said that the sheer volume of torture and abuse allegations documented in the report cannot be written off as the work of rogue actors.

“It is my view that the number and cruelty of allegations compiled portray gross disregard by Israel of its duty to treat all detainees humanely and without discrimination,” she said, “and this has encouraged, tolerated, and condoned torture and ill-treatment, at times with support at ministerial and functional levels.”

The descriptions of torture in Edwards’ report echo recent reporting by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, who wrote that his interviews with Palestinian detainees revealed “a pattern of widespread Israeli sexual violence against men, woman, and even children—by soldiers, settlers, interrogators in the Shin Bet internal security agency and, above all, prison guards.”

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Speaking at a news conference on May 19, Smotrich said he had been informed that the ICC had requested a warrant for his arrest.

He did not specify who had informed him, noting that the process of seeking warrants is confidential.

He claimed the arrest warrants against Israeli officials are “a declaration of war,” adding, “In the face of a declaration of war, we will fight back with a vengeance.”

Announcing that he would go “on the attack” after learning of the arrest warrant, Smotrich said he “will sign an order to evacuate Khan al-Ahmar,” forcibly transferring the Palestinian community from this occupied West Bank village that has endured a years-long legal battle with Israeli authorities for its survival.

He also attacked Palestinian humanitarian organizations, reflecting the Israeli authorities’ anger at Palestinians for seeking international legal action over Israel’s genocidal campaign in the Gaza Strip, which began on October 7, 2023, and has killed more than 72,800 Palestinians and wounded at least 172,700 others.

In November 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister of  War Yoav Gallant for “crimes against humanity and war crimes” committed during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

Judges and prosecutors at the ICC have since been sanctioned by banks, credit card companies, and tech giants such as Amazon as a result of sanctions imposed by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

The ICC’s request for an arrest warrant centers on Smotrich’s forced displacement orders targeting Palestinians, his support for moving Israeli settlers into occupied territory, and his claim that it may be “justified and moral” to starve Palestinians in Gaza.

If approved, it would make Smotrich the third Israeli official targeted by the court, after Netanyahu and Gallant.

The United Kingdom and four other countries have imposed sanctions on Smotrich and another Israeli minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, for repeatedly inciting violence against Palestinians.

Smotrich and Ben-Gvir have called for the permanent occupation of Gaza and the re-establishment of Jewish settlements there, which Israel abandoned in 2005.

In February, Smotrich approved a plan to claim large areas of the occupied West Bank as “state property,” as more than 700,000 Israelis live in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli military forces and settlers have killed at least 1,155 Palestinians, injured around 11,750 others, and abducted approximately 22,000 in the occupied West Bank since October 2023, according to official figures. (PressTV.ir)

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The Global Sumud Flotilla said the detainees are refusing food “in protest of their illegal abduction and in solidarity with the over  9,500 Palestinian hostages held in Israeli dungeons.”

The escalation comes after Israeli troops attacked the Lina al-Nabulsi, the flotilla’s final remaining vessel, in international waters late May 19, forcibly seizing the six people on board.

Israel began intercepting the flotilla on May 18, roughly 70 nautical miles west of  Cyprus, despite its civilian humanitarian mandate.

The mission departed Marmaris, Türkiye, May 14, carrying more than 420 participants determined to break Israel’s illegal blockade on Gaza and deliver urgently needed aid.

Among those abducted were nine Indonesian citizens, Indonesia’s foreign ministry confirmed. Jakarta demanded the immediate release of the vessels and pledged to use “every diplomatic channel and consular measure” available.

The detainees also include 15 Irish nationals, among them Dr. Margaret Connolly, the sister of Irish President Catherine Connolly.

Foreign ministers from 10 countries, Türkiye, Bangladesh, Brazil, Indonesia, Spain, Colombia, Libya, the Maldives, Pakistan and Jordan, issued a joint statement condemning Israel’s attack on the civilian flotilla.

“These assaults on vessels and the arbitrary detention of activists constitute a clear violation of international law and international humanitarian law,” the ministers declared.

Poland, too, voiced “great concern” and demanded urgent clarification from Israel.

The fallout expanded May 20 as Israeli rights group Adalah confirmed the abducted activists had been transferred to Ashdod. The group noted that those taken included international solidarity volunteers, human rights defenders, and medical workers, all forcibly brought into occupied territory after being seized in international waters.

Adalah warned that information on the detainees’ conditions, locations, and legal status remains severely restricted.

The latest assault follows multiple Israeli attacks on the Global Sumud Flotilla, including an April 26 raid off Greece during the Spring 2026 mission, where activists later reported sexual violence, physical assault, and degrading treatment in Israeli custody.

A similar operation last October saw Israel intercept around 40 boats, detaining more than 450 activists, including Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg, and European Parliament member Rima Hassan. Many later described severe physical and psychological abuse before being deported. (PressTV.ir)

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On November 18, 2012, Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) President Sidumo Dlamini said, “greed,” or the wealth of the world being controlled by a few, is the root cause of the world’s economic instability. He said this while addressing the 47th National African Federated Chamber of Commerce Conference in Johannesburg. His 14-year-old remarks still ring true today.

“The current dominant world political and economic system is predicated on greed and is constructed by and on behalf of a tiny minority,” said the president of South Africa’s largest union. “Its primary purpose is to deliver profit for them.”

Dlamini explained that the vicious nature of the capitalist system scraps all “proposed alternatives” that take humanity into consideration, “in favor of those who present an opportunity to have capital continue to maximize profit even during the [world’s] worsening crisis.”

“Greed, for a lack of a better term, is good,” said the unscrupulous corporate raider played by Michael Douglas in the 1987 Oliver Stone movie “Wall Street.” What that fictional character did not say is that countless lives are sacrificed to make greed good for the few.

To provide insight into the above, we need only revisit the 2008 economic crisis, which led to the collapse of the U.S. subprime mortgage market and the reversal of the housing boom in other industrialized economies. According to Dlamini, “when we could see levels of poverty increasing, people being retrenched, and when all of us were made to carry our hands on our heads about the big economic crisis, evidence shows that during that period the world’s billionaires saw their wealth grow by 50 percent, and their ranks swell to 1,011 from 793.”

During the same period, the number of U.S. billionaires grew from 359 to 403.

The 1,011 billionaires’ combined net worth increased to $3.6 trillion, “up,” Dlamini explained, adding “$1.2 trillion from the year before.” Each billionaire, on average, had his or her wealth increased by $500 million. According to Dlamini, “The wealth of the 403 U.S. billionaires [could have] more than cover[ed] the 2008 U.S. federal deficit, with money left over for the states.”

As of March 2026, the world community includes a record 3,428 billionaires, according to the 2026 Forbes World’s Billionaires List. This marks a significant increase from previous years, with these individuals residing in over 80 countries. More than enough to pay off the economic costs being incurred by the consequences of U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war against Iran.

This global greed, particularly by Global North countries, has also impacted the African continent.

“When African countries got independence, they inherited the colonial power structures of the colonizers without fundamentally altering them, thus perpetuating the dominance of capitalism to the detriment of the masses: the urban poor and peasantry,” explained Takudzwa Hillary Chiwanza, a barrister, journalist and social media content professional in his 2023 commentary “Africa Shouldn’t Listen to the International Community.”

Economist, Dr. Ndongo Samba Sylla, the Senegalese head of research and policy for Africa at International Development Economics Associates, has often analyzed “greed” not merely as a personal vice, but as a structural, institutionalized component of the global financial system that perpetuates inequality and colonial-style exploitation.

In his book, “Africa’s Last Colonial Currency: The CFA Franc Story,” co-authored with journalist Fanny Pigeaud, they argue that the CFA Franc acts as a neocolonial tool that extracts wealth from so-called Francophone Africa. They outline how this monetary arrangement hinders economic sovereignty, perpetuates underdevelopment, and subordinates African nation-states to European financial policies and French geopolitical interests.

“Over forty years after the formal end of colonialism, suffocating ties to Western financial systems continue to prevent African countries from achieving any meaningful monetary sovereignty,” Sylla writes.

According to Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, in an article headlined, “How Neoliberalism Has Wielded ‘Corruption’ to Privatize Life in Africa,” the most “referenced” socio-psychological reasons for corruption are “greed.”

“But greed is not a transhistorical concept or emotion; rather, it is shaped by the social formation in which it is allowed to grow. Capitalism has a special relationship to greed, since it fosters the ‘animal spirits’ (as the economist John Maynard Keynes put it) to reduce all human life to commodities and to centralize the profit motive as the economic motor,” the article noted.

The film “Wall Street” and Douglas’ character’s explanation of the term “greed” to justify his drive to accumulate wealth have come to be seen as the archetypal portrayal of the excesses of financial institutions. The movie, which won Douglas an Academy Award, reportedly inspired many to work on Wall Street. The lead characters, portrayed by Douglas and Charlie Sheen, and the film’s director, Oliver Stone, have previously remarked that people still approach them to say they owe their careers in the financial industry to having seen the film.

That the movie has influenced so many possible careers is a testament to how ingrained in this culture of receiving financial dividends at the expense of others it is.

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan said it best in his 1993 book, “A Torchlight for America.” In chapter three, “Greed and Leadership’s State of Mind,” Minister Farrakhan writes: “The fundamental motivation in this society is greed and the preying upon the weak of the country and the weak of the world, versus sharing the wealth in cooperation with the weak and the poor. Greed is defined as a selfish desire for possessions and wealth beyond reason. When greed is exercised in the society, it is reflected by division among the people.”

Follow Jehron Muhammad @Africawatchfcn on X

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Speaking at a ministerial meeting on UNSC reform on the sidelines of the Africa-France Summit in Kenyan capital Nairobi on May 11, Youssouf said the continent’s demand is not a request for special treatment but a response to a long-standing imbalance in global governance.

“Africa is not asking for a favor; Africa is demanding the correction of a historical injustice,” he said, according to an AU statement. He added that the Security Council’s “credibility and legitimacy” depend on whether it reflects the realities of the present world rather than “the geopolitical order of 1945.” 

The AU’s position is based on the 2005 Ezulwini Consensus and Sirte Declaration. It calls for at least two permanent African seats with all the powers held by existing permanent members, including veto rights while the veto remains, as well as five additional non-permanent seats.

The Security Council currently has five permanent members—China, France, Russia, the UK, and the U.S.—and ten elected members serving two-year terms. Africa, despite having 54 UN member states, has no permanent seat on the body.

Several African leaders have renewed calls for reform in recent months. Republic of the Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso said last year that the council no longer reflects the world’s geopolitical balance, while Kenyan President William Ruto urged at least two permanent African seats with veto power.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has repeatedly called for Africa to be given a permanent voice on the council, saying the institution has failed to keep pace with global changes since 1945. Russia has also backed expanding the Security Council to include more African, Asian, and Latin American states.

Moscow’s deputy envoy to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, told an African Union Committee of Ten summit in New York in September that the council should reflect the “multipolar nature of the world” rather than “the global colonial past.” 

Polyansky said Russia supports Africa’s push for greater representation, while warning against increasing Western representation on the council.(RT.com)

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