“Without any doubt, if I had been alone I wouldn’t have made it here, 12 years later,” she said, at a recent event at her son’s old school marking the anniversary of his death. “We need one another to cry together, to smile together and to fight together.”

Oliveira and other Brazilian mothers turn to activism to ensure that their sons are remembered as more than a statistic. Now, they are demanding a nationwide policy to support relatives of victims of state violence and are seeking public funding to finance their activities.

The nonprofit Crossfire Institute said 460 people died during police operations in Rio last year, the highest number since 2016 and a 52% increase from the previous year. Much like the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, a human rights organization created by women whose children were kidnapped by the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983, Oliveira and her group draw attention to the pain generated by police killings and seek judicial accountability—sometimes successfully.

Last year, they traveled to the capital Brasilia and met with the judiciary, legislative and executive branches to present their project, developed with the support of Raave, a network of organizations supporting people affected by police killings in Rio.

“Raave is negotiating with the federal government to implement a pilot project … developed by the mothers, so that we can provide care and guarantee the rights of this population,” said Guilherme Pimental, a coordinator for Raave.

Turning grief into struggle

As in other Latin American countries, including Peru and Colombia, crime is a key issue for voters in Brazil’s elections in October. Supporters and allies of presidential hopeful Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, argue that police must be given full support in their fight against heavily armed gangs in favelas, or impoverished sprawling urban communities.

But grieving mothers and nonprofits contend that Brazil’s police too often use excessive force, sometimes ending in death. Oliveira’s son Johnatha was shot in the back as he passed through a street in Manguinhos favela in Rio after visiting his grandmother, his mother said. He later died of his injuries.

“Police officers allege that they shot him to disperse a crowd” that was protesting, said Oliveira, who wants the law enforcement official who fired the shot convicted of intentional homicide. In 2024, a jury convicted the official of manslaughter without intent to kill. Prosecutors successfully appealed, but a new court date for a second trial hasn’t been set.

Like Oliveira, Monica Cunha also transformed her pain into activism. After her 20-year-old son was killed by police in 2006, she became a councilwoman and this month will launch her pre-candidacy to run for state lawmaker in the upcoming October elections.

“I fight for memory, truth, justice, reparations and guarantees of non-repetition—not only for myself, but so that no other family has to endure this pain,” Cunha said in an Instagram post on the 18th anniversary of her son’s death. “The racism that kills our children and loved ones is not an isolated problem, and it must be confronted through state policies.  I will keep going, turning grief into struggle.”

Brazilian police have killed more than 6,000 people every year since 2018, according to the Brazilian Forum on Public Safety, a prominent nonprofit. The largest number of victims are age 18 to 24, while 82% of victims of lethal police violence are Black, the nonprofit said in its 2025 annual publication on violence in Brazil.

‘We need solutions’

Nadia dos Santos’ sons Cleyton and Cleyverson were both killed by police: the former in 2015 when he was 18 and the latter when he was 17 in 2022. Police also killed the son of her sister, Glaucia dos Santos, Fabricio, in 2014 when he was 17.  A memorial honoring and depicting the three boys covers the front wall of the family’s home in Rio’s Chapadao complex of favelas.

The sisters founded support groups and began the long work of investigating the circumstances of each boy’s death, seeking accountability through the courts.

In 2023, the police officers involved in the death of Fabricio were sentenced to nine years in prison, a decision that was celebrated by other mothers and gave them hope, Glaucia dos Santos said.

“We want others to stay alive, so we have to stay upright” despite the immense toll of the grief, said Glaucia dos Santos.  Her sister Nadia said the mothers need a nationwide public policy on restitution that she went to Brasilia to demand.

“The state should have the obligation to give us mothers who lose our sons because of the state’s violence reparations. … We fight, we work, but we become ill. We need solutions,” she said.

Oliveira suggested restitution could take the form of placing victims’ names in public places and naming facilities after them, such as schools, hospitals and daycare centers.

“There are other forms of reparation as well, such as building other public policies of non-repetition that would help prevent new cases. … Many things need to be done, repaired, so that this barbarity does not continue,” she said. (AP)

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Malian government spokesperson Issa Ousmane Coulibaly said on July 10 that the West African nation would allow its ambassador to return to Algiers as part of measures aimed at the “renewal of relations of cooperation and friendship” with Algeria.

Bamako has also decided to reopen its national airspace to all civilian and military aircraft originating from or destined for Algeria, Coulibaly said in a statement.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune confirmed on July 11 that the country’s ambassador would return to Mali.

Tebboune said the decision reflected his “steadfast and resolute commitment to restoring Algerian-Malian relations to their natural historical trajectory, based on mutual respect,” according to a statement published by state news agency APS.

Relations between the two African nations  deteriorated  in  April  2025 after Algeria  said it had shot down a Malian surveillance drone for allegedly violating its airspace. Bamako rejected the accusation and said the aircraft was destroyed over Mali.

Tensions had been mounting since Mali withdrew from a 2015 peace agreement with northern separatist groups that was mediated by Algeria. The Malian authorities later accused Algiers of supporting armed groups, a claim the Algerian government denied.

The diplomatic fallout extended to Mali’s Alliance of Sahel States (AES) partners, Niger and Burkina Faso, which also recalled their ambassadors from Algeria during the dispute.

In recent months, however, Algeria has moved to repair ties with its southern neighbors. In February, Niger agreed with Algeria to restart work on the long-delayed Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline, a project designed to transport Nigerian gas through Niger and Algeria to Europe.

Algeria, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, all former French colonies, have troubled relations with France due to alleged interference. The AES countries have accused Paris of failing to respect their sovereignty and supporting the militants behind a longstanding jihadist insurgency in the Sahel.

Algeria’s ties with Paris have also been strained by historical grievances, France’s position on Western Sahara and migration disputes. (RT.com)

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The African continent’s influence on the FIFA (International Federation of Association Football) World Cup in 2026 has grown from peripheral participation to a core structural and cultural force. The continent’s impact is most visible in the expanded 48-team format, where Africa secured an historic 10-team presence. Those teams included Algeria, Cape Verde, DR Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia.

Nine of the continent’s 10 competing teams were among the last 32 teams, a historic achievement for African football (referred to as soccer in the U.S.) at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. This is where a record nine out of 10 competing African nations successfully advanced past the group stage into the Round of 32 knockout phase. When told about this fact after Algeria’s crucial draw against Austria, Tiyad Mahrez, who plays for the North African country, told The Atlantic, “That’s amazing. It shows the quality of African football, which is not always described as really good football, but it is. It’s difficult to play in Africa, but when you see nine out of 10 teams at the biggest tournament (going through), it shows a lot. I’m so pleased.”

At the time of this writing, two African nations remained, as Egypt and Morocco had successfully advanced to the quarterfinals of the tournament.

From the outset of this year’s tournament, matches played by African teams upended expectations. According to Time.com, “Cape Verde, a nation of half a million playing in its first World Cup, held the reigning European champions, Spain, to a scoreless draw in Atlanta. Then, they took a point off Uruguay (another former World Cup Champion). Egypt led Belgium before holding on for a 1-1 draw, then beat New Zealand 3-1. Morocco, a semifinalist four years ago, drew with Brazil while outplaying them for long stretches, then dominated Scotland.”

The Time article continued, “And Folarin Balogun, born in New York to Nigerian parents, scored twice in the United States’ opening win, a reminder that African talent shapes this game far beyond the continent’s own teams. None of this is a fluke. It is the latest evidence of something the rest of the world has been slow to price in.”

Ivory Coast, recognized by FIFA as Côte d’Ivoire, has appeared on four occasions: 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2026. Nicknamed the Elephants and winning at the Africa Cup of Nations tournament three times, they got the job done, defeating Curaçao 2-0, guaranteeing their place in the knockout stages of the World Cup for the first time before losing in a competitive match against Norway.

The year 1934 marked Africa’s participation in the inaugural World Cup. Still under colonial rule, the continent sent Egypt across the Mediterranean to Italy to represent it. As Egypt was eliminated, according to ESPN, “amidst a cloud of injustice,” the continent would be denied participation for the next 40 years.

During the 1960s, as a movement for independence swept across Africa, FIFA ruled that “Africa, Asia, and Oceania would have to share a single qualifying spot for the 1966 World Cup,” reported the BBC. In response, 15 African nations staged a historic, continent-wide boycott of the tournament. “The continent, summoned by CAF (Confederation of African Football) President Abdel Aziz Moustafa, withdrew in protest, in a decision that reflected its intensifying emotional current,” noted ESPN.

Moustafa’s presidency led to greater FIFA recognition for Africa and to the successful advocacy for more World Cup slots for African nations, reported Pulse Sports.

Eventually, African talent in football (soccer) came to supplement European teams. There were years of expansion and European academies filled with African talent, and players starred for the world’s biggest clubs (teams).

“It was also in the 1990s that this trend of postcolonial immigration would leave its indelible mark on world football, as France lifted its first World Cup on home soil with a squad composed of several African-descended players like Zinedine Zidane, Patrick Vieira and Marcel Desailly. The team would be fondly called Black-Blanc-Beur (Black-White-Arab) in praise of its ethnic diversity, reported olayafrica.com.

In this 2026 World Cup, African-descended European players are among the most extraordinary talents on the pitch, but addressing the imbalance in African participation has potentially awakened a sleeping giant.

Examples of Africa’s ability to compete were evident in Cape Verde, which produced one of the biggest shocks in the competition’s history by drawing with the European champions, Spain, in their opening game. Ghana produced a disciplined performance to earn a point against England. South Africa recovered from a painful defeat to Mexico to finish second in their group and advance, The Athletic reported. The DR Congo, who, at their first World Cup, had a draw with Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal and also progressed as one of the best third-placed teams.

The growing participation of African nations in the World Cup has excited people on the continent.

Veron Mosengo Omba, the newly-elected president of the Congolese Football Federation and former general secretary of the Confederation of African Football, said the scenes had moved him: “Even in the occupied areas of eastern Congo, you see people coming out into the streets to dance. It’s incredible … What these young players have given us is an unexpected gift,” reported The Guardian.

Democratic Republic of Congo President Félix Tshisekedi struck a similar note, which speaks volumes for all of Africa. “Every victory, every flag raised, strengthens our pride, our national identity and the invisible foundations of our unity,” he said.

Follow Jehron Muhammad @africawatchfcn

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While mainstream America’s 50 state 250th anniversary celebration was in full effect, some Black Americans were asking “250 years of what?”

At an Independence Day celebration, on July 5, 1852, in New York, abolitionist Frederick Douglass delivered his famous keynote address “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”

He declared, “This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn.”

There was mass commercial celebration by some folks, others were conflicted, and then there were those who reject the commemoration as an inaccurate telling of the U.S. origin story.

“In 1976 as the USA prepared for bicentennial celebrations of the signing of their Declaration of Independence, members of Brooklyn’s EAST organization employed a different strategy,” Basir Mchawi, radio host of Education at the Crossroads on WBAI, told The Final Call. “Under the leadership of Baba Jitu Weusi, we raised a question, ‘200 years of what?’”

They sponsored a series of historical lectures, and dedicated an issue of their Black News magazine, to the theme. Fifty years later, for many Black people, the question remains the same. The crimes of the United States are far too numerous to mention, extending back beyond the year 1776. Those crimes continue.

The attempts to enhance the mythological beginnings of the nation-state that currently occupies most of North America have accelerated in recent years. A deep fear of confronting reality and being held accountable for unspeakable acts both historical and contemporary motivates the efforts to censor and rewrite.

It is “White fragility” at the base of all of this. To quote Mr. Douglass; “There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour.”

Again, the question is, “250 years of what?”

As she helped organize the Spirit of Mandela Coalition two day event in Atlanta’s West End, beginning on July 5, activist Dequi kioni-Sadiki explained, “As America hypes up 250 years of independence from British rule, generations of Black, Brown and Indigenous folk continue to live through and with land/deed theft.

The violence of poverty, homelessness, mass/political imprisonment, environmental racism, lack of access to quality health, education and racial police terror, violence and murder. All of this amounts to the ‘slow’ genocide that persistently takes our lives on a daily basis … .

A glaring contradiction is the hypocrisy of America boasting and celebrating independence, while millions continue to endure the legacy of genocide and enslavement that this country is founded on.”

Circa 1990 educator activist Dr. Jack Felder coined the phrase “Happy Fourth of You Lie Day.” His son activist educator Nova Felder explained, “This isn’t a celebration for the Black community. We have endured and thrived at times, in spite of what the good ol’ USA has thrown at us.

We can have whatever level of cognitive dissonance to be able to stomach the medicine aka Americanism throws at us, but nonetheless, it doesn’t change that this is a racist, enslavement of African people.”

Mr. Felder pointed out that Frederick Douglass’ 1852 “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” was penned 13 years before the end of the American Civil War.

“This speech makes it clear that African people in this country then were not participants in American society or civics at that time, and in many ways are still not full participants.”

He added that today, “The executive branch is ignoring legal precedents, laws and established norms for its own agenda that Black folks are not favored by. Today, we look at the reality of Black immigrants being stripped of TPS (Haiti) and Black men still being railroaded by the justice system.

“This time of year, recrystallizes our resolve to continue fighting for self-determination, restorative justice and reparations,” Mr. Felder added.

While America’s 4th of July celebrates the Americans “victory” over the British, meanwhile in July in England, Caribbean people commemorated the injustices suffered by those of the Windrush Generation.

At the behest of the British government in 1948 the HMT Empire Windrush brought hundreds of much needed essential workers from countries such as Jamaica, Trinidad, Grenada, and Barbados, to help rebuild a devastated post-World War II England.

The 1948 British Nationality Act granted the requested migrants the right to stay and work in Britain. This “ad hoc” recruitment drive lasted until 1971. But in April 2018, it was announced that the UK Home Office had kept inadequate Windrush migrant records, and had destroyed landing cards.

National UK activist Lorna Downer of the Windrush Defenders Legal CIC told The Final Call, “The then Prime Minister Theresa May sanctioned the ‘hostile environment,’ which led to those who came from British colonies to save and rebuild Britain to be subjected to deportation, loss of jobs, loss of housing, refusal of healthcare and drivers licenses.”

The outcry was immediate. The subsequent ‘Windrush Scandal’ revealed that many people were illegally deported. A commission was appointed, reviews were conducted, and a compensation fund established.

“Our seniors gathering together is beautiful. However, holding celebrations on Windrush Day (June 22), is a concept that has been hijacked by the government, to shove our people into a false sense that all is celebratory; whilst they seek to hide the serious harm that has been done to Caribbean and African people, who came and rebuilt Britain.”

Ms. Downer said that while the national Windrush Day celebrations “are beginning to drown us out, we are relentless. However, we are also under-resourced, and the Home Office directs the funds we require from them to get our people dancing. We have had to shame them into action because of the Windrush Compensation Scheme not being fit for purpose.”

Paul Obinna, a Manchester, UK-based teacher said that Black Britons have long felt aligned to Black Americans, because of different but relatable struggles.

For him with mixed Igbo-English heritage from his in part, “Black Music was the lifeline in the midst of my cultural isolation.”

He cited as influences, songs like, “Spirit” by Earth, Wind & Fire, “What’s Going On?” by Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder’s album, “Songs in the Key of Life” which contained the bi-centennial celebration “Black Man” penned by him and Imhotep Gary Byrd. That song called out the names of Black, Red, Brown, White and Yellow people who had contributed to the formation of the U.S.

Decades later, said Mr. Obinna, “‘Black Man’ is still a key teaching tool, [which could illustrate] the current U.S. administration’s mission to eradicate embarrassing White histories.”

Milton Allimadi, publisher of The Black Star News explained to The Final Call that the most essential problems faced by Blacks in the U.S. and Black people around the world “because of the global power of the United States, can be traced to the White male supremacy that was the foundation of the creation of this country.”

Mr. Allimadi who is also an Adjunct Professor of African History at New York’s John Jay College, continued, “Europeans who occupied this country and wiped out the indigenous populations built tremendous wealth through the labor of enslaved Africans.

Then they quarreled with fellow Europeans back in Europe, the British monarchy, on how to divide the profits from the wealth created by the enslaved-Africans. They fought wars and the Europeans who occupied this country defeated the monarchy. They created the United States.”

Since then, he continued, Blacks “in the United States and globally have been demanding for and fighting for their just share of the tremendous wealth created by their ancestors.”

Nayaba Arinde is a freelance Editor-at-Large and award-winning reporter and activist. Follow her on Instagram @NayabaArinde1

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Venezuelan authorities said on June 29 that at least 1,719 people have been killed and 5,034 injured since two powerful earthquakes struck the country last Monday (June 22).

More than 50,000 people remain missing or unaccounted for as rescue teams continue searching through the rubble of thousands of collapsed and damaged buildings, with hopes of finding more survivors fading.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquakes measured magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5 and struck less than 40 seconds apart.

The magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck about 23 kilometers (14.2 miles) southeast of Yumare in Yaracuy state, while the magnitude 7.2 quake hit roughly 24 kilometers (14.9 miles) northeast of San Felipe. The earthquakes caused extensive destruction in Caracas and several coastal states, including La Guaira, Carabobo, Miranda, Aragua and Falcon.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced, placing additional strain on emergency services and relief efforts.

A preliminary assessment based on satellite radar data indicates that approximately 58,870 buildings may have been damaged or destroyed across the affected region.

Seismic activity has continued since the disaster, as a magnitude 4.6 aftershock struck near Caraballeda on June 29, one of more than 600 tremors recorded since the initial earthquakes.

No additional damage was immediately reported, although the shaking sent residents in Caracas running into the streets.

In a phone call with his Venezuelan counterpart, Yván Gil Pinto, on June 27, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi conveyed the condolences of the Iranian government and people to Venezuela, particularly to the families of those killed in the earthquakes.

Araghchi wished those injured a speedy recovery and said the Islamic Republic of Iran stands with the Venezuelan people during this difficult time.

The FM also said Tehran is ready to provide assistance and participate in search-and-rescue operations. (PressTV.ir)

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In the mind of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the state of Israel extends well beyond its current borders. Referred to as “Greater Israel,” the concept calls for Israel to annex more of Palestine and parts of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt.

The colonial settler state attempted to occupy parts of some of those territories in the past, withdrawing from them after intense fighting from resistance forces and international condemnation.

The state’s current occupation of Lebanon and Mr. Netanyahu’s ultimate dream of the “Greater” annexation have observers wondering if Iran will be another “forever war.”

“You have two proxies of the U.S.-Israel and Lebanon,” Dr. Wilmer Leon, radio host and political science professor at Morgan State University, told The Final Call. “The concept of ‘Greater Israel’ and its stated objective of the elimination of Lebanon, Iran and Palestinians, as well, you can’t negotiate with that.”

By many accounts, President Trump, who campaigned on no more “forever” wars, was encouraged by Mr. Netanyahu to join Israel in an unprovoked attack on Iran on February 28. Iran and its support of Hezbollah in Lebanon are the primary obstacles preventing Israel from exerting full dominance in the region.

America’s war on Islam came to light when retired Army General Wesley Clark revealed in 2001 that the U.S. planned to take out seven Muslim countries. The last of those countries still in the way is Iran.

Late last year, Mr. Netanyahu raised concerns about his expansionist ideas in an interview when he stated he “very much” identifies with the vision of a “Greater Israel,” framing it as a “historical and spiritual” mission, according to the middleeasteye.net and other news outlets.

In February, U.S. ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee caused an uproar when commentator Tucker Carlson, in an interview, asked the ambassador if he supported Israel controlling historical lands described in the Bible as belonging to Jewish people, which today includes parts of other nations.

“It would be fine if they took it all,” Mr. Huckabee said. The Trump administration later said the comment was taken out of context.

But it is one held by many in the conservative wing of the Israeli government. Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said that he would support “anything that will allow the Jews a large, broad, strong land and a safe haven for us.”

“Zionism is based on the Bible. Our mandate over the land of Israel is biblical, [and] the biblical borders of the land of Israel are clear. … Therefore, the borders are the borders of the Bible,” Mr. Lapid reportedly said.

“The whole cause of the strife is due to the ideology of Zionism that eventually developed into the state of Israel,” countered Rabbi Yisroel D. Weiss of the Neturei Karta orthodox Jewish community to The Final Call. “They use the Jewish religion as a facade, a cover for nationalist endeavors.”

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) framework to discuss peace between the U.S. and Iran calls for a total ceasefire and withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon.

Mr. Netanyahu has vowed to neither leave Lebanon nor stop fighting Hezbollah. A recent “agreement” between Lebanon and Israel, however, signals possible compromise.

Lebanon agreement raises concerns

According to the framework, Israel will withdraw from two “pilot zone” areas in southern Lebanon, transferring the sites to the Lebanese military, under the proposal signed in Washington on June 26.

Much of the agreement focuses on establishing “sovereignty” of the Lebanese government and disarming Hezbollah resistance fighters. The governments “commit to establishing a military coordination group, with U.S. support and participation, to ensure overall implementation” of the agreement.

Also, the Lebanese government “welcomes the readiness of the United States to support” militarily such efforts in disarming “all non-state armed groups.”

The signing prompted protests in the streets of Beirut, Lebanon, with many displaying flags in support of Hezbollah.

Critics of the proposal point out:

• the role of the U.S. as a potential dishonest broker;
• the inability of the Lebanese military to effectively defend the country against future Israeli aggression;
• the agreement may pit the army against Hezbollah if they do not disarm.

Critics also note that Israel will pull out of Lebanon pending the “verified disarmament” of non-state armed groups.

“The United States is unlikely to act as a neutral mediator and will almost certainly align with Israeli positions whenever disputes arise over the interpretation or implementation of the agreement,”

Said Karim Emile Bitar, a professor of international relations at the Saint Joseph University of Beirut, in an article posted on Aljazeera.com. “This creates a fundamentally asymmetric negotiating environment in which Lebanon has little leverage and few effective guarantees.”

Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israeli Defense Force (IDF) soldiers will remain in Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed, Al Jazeera reported.

Imad Hamad, director of the American Human Rights Coalition, told The Final Call the Hezbollah resistance “was not formed in a vacuum.” At one point Israel occupied Lebanon for more than 20 years and has a history of invading Lebanon, he said, adding, “that’s why the resistance was formed.”

Muhammad Sankara of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) suggests Israel and the U.S. are playing a game of divide and conquer. He said language in the agreement could pit the Lebanese Army against Hezbollah if carried out as written. He also said Israel doesn’t currently occupy the two “pilot zones” they agreed to withdraw from.

“It’s clear the U.S. and Israel are hoping to launch Lebanon into a civil war with Hezbollah,” Mr. Sankara told The Final Call. Their plan follows the “Gaza model” used against Palestinians: destabilize, disarm and make Lebanon a colony of Israel.

He described the Lebanese military as an “underdeveloped, under resourced, glorified police force armed by the U.S. with pre-1980s military equipment.”

Not face-to-face yet

While still debating control of the vital Strait of Hormuz and whether there will be fees charged to pass through, mediators for Iran and the U.S. reportedly reached agreement in Doha to release $6 billion of Iran’s frozen assets.

The indirect talks were mediated by Qatar and Pakistan even though the U.S. had sent envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner to the region. Iranian authorities have said its negotiators will not sit down for peace talks with the Trump administration until all the points in the MoU have been upheld.

Terms of the MoU expire 60 days from its signing, which occurred on June 17. Mr. Trump said he went to war to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Professor Leon said those goals already existed before the U.S.-Israel attack.

“Everything Donald Trump claims he was trying to accomplish already existed in the JCPOA,” Professor Leon said, referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action negotiated in 2018 by President Barack Obama. “Whether it’s a non-nuclear Iran, an open Strait of Hormuz, all of that was already agreed to.

“Resistance forces are winning,” he concluded. “If they weren’t winning, the United States and Israel would not be talking about negotiations. They don’t negotiate when they have the upper hand.”

Will Netanyahu’s expansionist goals commit U.S. to continued conflict?

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Conflicting messages continue to be fired across the bow as the war enters its fourth month. Previous declared “ceasefires” never stopped missiles from being fired. The 14 points, or “understandings,” outlined in the MoU are interpreted differently depending on who’s doing the talking.

Shortly after signing the MoU, President Donald Trump declared the Strait of Hormuz open to ship traffic and that there would be no tolls charged for passage now or in the future.

Iranian authorities announced ships seeking to pass must get their approval and a permanent decision about the Strait, as stated in the MoU, would be decided by Iran and Oman, the two countries that border the waterway.

On June 25, Iran reportedly fired on a ship trying to navigate the Strait. A day later, the U.S. military fired on positions in Iran in response.

The MoU calls for a ceasefire “on all fronts,” including Lebanon, where Israel has continued to fire on Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed group of resistance fighters. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced he has no intention to stop firing on Hezbollah or withdraw from Lebanon, which is a potential peace dealbreaker for Iran.

The MoU stipulates that Iran’s frozen assets would be made available to the Islamic Republic for use “upon implementation” of the MoU. Mr. Trump had declared that any funds would be spent to purchase agricultural and medical products from U.S. farmers and manufacturers. Iran declared it would spend its money as it pleases.

The Trump administration said it attacked Iran to destroy its capacity to develop a nuclear weapon. Shortly after the first negotiations between the U.S. and Iran on June 22, Vice President JD Vance announced that Iran had agreed to allow international inspectors back into the country.

But Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said there were no such plans, according to the BBC. President Trump posted on social media, “If they did not agree to this, there would be no further negotiations.”

Many argue that Iran won the deal … and the war to this point. Tensions have arisen between Mr. Trump and representatives of the Republican Party, over whom he has exerted considerable control.

Several Republicans joined Democrats recently to pass a War Powers Resolution, a mostly symbolic effort that calls on the president to get approval from Congress to continue the fighting. Shortly thereafter, another vote sided with the president when a few legislators voted differently or abstained from the vote.

The president’s approval ratings have fallen to the mid- to upper-30% range since the unpopular war started, according to polls. The drop is mostly attributed to disapproval of the war, rising gas prices, and the cost of food and other necessities. Even Gulf allies are souring on Mr. Trump, according to a recent Washington Post article.

The article reveals that government officials from the UAE tried to dissuade Mr. Trump against the war and they publicly lavish praise on him. Privately, however, one official expressed they got “played.”

One businessman told the Post of excitement around Trump’s announcement of a $2 trillion investment deal in the region, and a campaign promise to be a “no war president.” That changed, however, when war threatened tourism, the economy, regional security and danger to infrastructure. “We got played,” the businessman told The Post.

Phyllis Bennis, program director with the Institute for Policy Studies, told The Final Call Mr. Trump’s MoU is a ceasefire agreement, while the JCPOA agreement negotiated by the Obama administration was a nuclear inspections agreement, one that Mr. Trump tore up during his first term.

The MoU calls for opening the Strait of Hormuz, which was not closed before the war, she pointed out.  “The urgency to end the war was crucial,” she said. “The MoU was designed to be done quickly, so they left out clarity. Instead of the impossibility of going for a nuclear agreement, Trump went for a ceasefire.”

Ms. Bennis said the biggest threat to the MoU is Israel’s determination to stay in Lebanon to fight Hezbollah, an opinion activist Ajamu Baraka, agrees with.

The attacks on Iran and Lebanon are efforts to undermine the only state in the region that can challenge Israel, Mr. Baraka told The Final Call. He postured that U.S. strategy is to exert hegemony in the Americas through its invasion of Venezuela, thus hurting China’s economy by disrupting its access to Venezuelan crude, as well as consolidating power with Israel in the Middle East.

“Trump had called for unconditional surrender from Iran,” said Mr. Baraka, director of the Black Alliance for Peace Centered Human Rights, adding he feels “the MoU was Mr. Trump’s way of pausing the conflict.”

On a recent 1A broadcast on National Public Radio, Al Monitor news Editor in Chief Joyce Karam speculated that Iran is paying attention to the negative polls and the waffling of some of Mr. Trump’s Republican legislators.

“We’re at half-time,” she said of the fighting. “Iran got themselves a sweet deal and the (Trump) administration is in a tough spot. They want to end the war but don’t have enough cards to pressure Iran. [Iran] knows the American public wants an end to the war.”

She added that President Trump is “playing a divide-and-conquer” strategy by sending Vice President Vance to talk to the Saudis while sending Secretary of State Marco Rubio to talk to Gulf state allies.

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 A June 23 United Nations report says Israel continues to “deliberately target and kill” Palestinian children. The world body says Israel’s actions amount to “genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity” in Gaza and war crimes in the occupied West Bank.

A June 22 report by the Zulat Institute for Equality and Human Rights accused the Israeli government and state institutions of using the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israeli concert goers to suppress freedom of expression among its Arab population. The Zulat is an Israeli policy think tank.

Both reports focus on Israeli atrocities even as the settler colonial state intentionally seeks to upend peace negotiations between Iran and the U.S.—who have published a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for peace talks—by continuing to bomb Lebanon. Iran has made a total ceasefire in Lebanon a requirement in the MoU.

The UN report by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory documents Israel’s intentional targeting of neonatal and maternity care centers during its war on Gaza that began immediately after the Oct. 7 attack that resulted in approximately 1,200 deaths and about 250 people held hostage.

Israel’s assault on Gaza amounted to deliberate attacks on populated areas that “wiped out entire families across two or three or even four generations, with the Israeli security forces fully aware that children would be present and that children, with their small, fragile bodies, have a higher chance of death and serious injury in such attacks,” the report said.

Thirty percent of people killed in Gaza since the war started have been children, the report said, adding Israel’s daily bombings “endangered Palestinians’ reproductive future and the survival of newborns—driving a rise in miscarriages, birth defects and lasting vulnerabilities among newborns, resulting in the destruction of Palestinian newborn life and the population’s continuity.”

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), at least 21,289 Palestinian children have been reported killed in the Gaza Strip between the start of the conflict in October 2023 and early February 2026. Additionally, over 50,000 children have been injured, with tens of thousands more missing or trapped under the rubble.

An average of one child a day has been killed in the eight months since the October 2025 Gaza “ceasefire,” the UN noted.

“Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by the Israeli security forces,” said Srinivasan Muralidhar, chair of the Commission, in a UN release concerning the report. “Even after the October 2025 ceasefire, children continue to be killed and seriously injured.”

A doctor visiting a Gaza medical center noted in the report: “Children brought into the emergency department were seeing around them the chaos of mass casualty, with people screaming, limbs blown off, blood … these children were sitting in a corner, staring blankly, not talking and observing all that, without any adults helping them to process or offer any sense of security. Mental health of children has been completely jeopardized.”

Forms of severe mistreatment of children by Israeli soldiers include extrajudicial arrests, torture, and sexual violence. In addition, information has been regularly withheld from parents about their child’s whereabouts.

Last year, the Commission concluded Israeli authorities and its military have committed and continue to commit genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, defined as killing members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about physical destruction in whole or in part; and imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.

“Everything in Gaza was a target,” Imad Hadad, director of the American Human Rights Coalition, told The Final Call.  “The Israeli Army killed children as they walked to school or to get water. They have created an unstable and disabled Palestinian community. Many children are without arms or legs.”  Mr. Hadad described Gaza as “a new version of the Holocaust” and convicted the U.S. as a direct participant in the genocide. 

The bombings of schools and orphanages in Gaza and East Jerusalem have obstructed cognitive, social and emotional care and development and “disrupted the foundations of Palestinian society,” the report notes.

“The destruction of their health, education and development is irreversible,” Mr. Muralidhar declared.

Silencing Palestinian citizens of Israel

The Zulat report on suppression of free speech indicates that since October 7 and throughout the Gaza war, “a widespread perception has taken hold that the exercise of freedom of expression and demonstration among the Arab public constitutes a security threat that must be thwarted in advance, or at the very least significantly restricted.”

Titled “If You Speak, a Policeman Will Come—The Silencing of the Arab Public During the War,” the report said the entire Arab public was viewed as “an enemy” regarding the exercise of  freedom of expression and the right to protest. The report describes the systematic silencing of the Arab public, including political persecution, from the beginning of  the Gaza war in 2023 until the signing of a ceasefire agreement in October of 2025.

The report said the “silencing policy” had the support of the Israeli police, the Knesset (Legislative branch), the government (Executive branch), the State’s Attorney’s office and the Supreme Court. Arab Israeli citizens were labeled as supporting terrorism or treason and experienced social ostracism, job loss, suspension or expulsion from universities and subject to unwarranted criminal investigations.

The message: “It is forbidden to oppose the war, voice grief over the killing and starvation in Gaza, question the version of events of the government and security forces, or express solidarity with Palestinian victim,” the report noted, adding, “This policy effectively silenced the Arab public.”

Showing support for Palestinian victims or showing solidarity with their cause was viewed by the Israeli government as supporting terrorism or being traitorous. Severe restrictions were placed on Arab demonstrations and protests, as well as social media comments, the report said.

The contention over Arab Israeli rights has further called into question the label of Israel as a democratic state. The report highlights the government’s efforts to undermine the legitimacy of Arab participation in elections, criminalizing the display of the Palestinian flag, threatening and detaining Arab journalists and falsely accusing Arab politicians of being terrorist operatives or supporting terrorism.

 “It is a cliché that Israel is ‘the only democracy’ in the Middle East,” said Mr. Hamad, a Palestinian whose parents and grandparents were exiled to Lebanon, where he was raised, during the first Nakba (catastrophe). Arab citizens of Israel “have citizenship but they are not treated equally.” “Israel is a racist country, and racism is the core of Zionism,” he said.

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The pledge was unveiled during the Next Steps Conference, where the Dutch and German ambassadors presented Ghanaian President John Mahama with a catalog of the items set to be repatriated. The catalog, however, has not yet been made publicly available.

In a post on X, Ablakwa welcomed the move, describing it as “the positive conduct of restitution we are beginning to witness from our international partners in Europe since the adoption of the historic Ghana-led UN Resolution.”

The conference also saw Denmark acknowledge its role in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen apologized for the country’s involvement and pledged support for preserving the forts and castles built by Denmark in present-day Ghana, saying the effort would help safeguard historical memory, promote truth-telling, and prevent similar injustices from being repeated.

Speaking at the conference, Ghana’s president also announced the creation of three international bodies aimed at advancing reparatory justice: the Global Advisory Panel on Reparatory Justice, the Expert Panel on the Restitution of Cultural Artefacts, and the Global Legal Panel on Reparatory Justice.

According to Mahama, the groups will help develop practical pathways for restitution, historical accountability, and legal redress.

“We do not seek to reopen old wounds. We seek to heal those wounds,” he said. “We do not seek division. We seek justice, understanding, and reconciliation grounded in truth”.

The initiative follows a Ghana-sponsored UN General Assembly resolution adopted in March that recognized the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade as “the gravest crime against humanity.”

The push for restitution has gained momentum in recent years. In February, Cambridge University formally transferred ownership of 116 Benin Bronzes and other artifacts to Nigeria. The physical return of most of the objects is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

The same month, Paris returned the sacred Djidji Ayokwe talking drum to Cote d’Ivoire. The drum had been taken during the colonial period in 1916 and held in France for more than a century. (RT.com)

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The measure follows talks between the president and industrial and artisanal mining operators, as well as gold buying offices, on June 19, and takes effect immediately.

“Any operator who, after the expiry of this deadline, continues to export raw gold will have its license suspended, its mining agreement terminated, and will answer for its actions before Guinean justice,” Doumbouya warned, according to his office.

Guinea holds significant gold reserves and ranks as the sixth-largest producer in Africa, with production of 69.3 tons in 2025, according to the World Gold Council. The former French colony is also the world’s leading producer of bauxite, accounting for around 33.2% of global output in 2024, U.S. Geological Survey data shows.

President Mamadi Doumbouya said Guinea has “unfortunately been among the poorest nations in the world,” despite being “one of the richest lands in Africa.”

He said the country’s “gold leaves its soil every day in raw form, loaded onto planes, taken to foreign refineries to be processed” and sold elsewhere, while Guinea “receives crumbs.” 

“I put an end to this today. Guinean gold will be melted in Guinea, certified in Guinea, valued in Guinea before being exported to international markets,” he declared.

The government said the measure is designed to boost local value addition and accelerate industrialization in a country where mining remains the backbone of the economy.

Under the new framework, refining is expected to take place at the Nimba Gold Refinery in Gbessia, a state-backed facility in the capital, Conakry. The plant is expected to process up to 2,000 kg of gold per day and an estimated monthly capacity of 520 tons. It is designed to produce internationally certified bullion and handle industrial waste streams containing precious metals, according to the presidency.

Doumbouya, who first came to power in 2021 after a military takeover and later won the presidency in an election last December, has also tightened oversight of Guinea’s bauxite sector, revoking and reassigning mining concessions while pushing for greater local processing.

Similar policies have been rolled out elsewhere in Africa in recent years. Zimbabwe, the continent’s leading lithium producer, has restricted exports of unprocessed lithium concentrates, while Tanzania and Uganda have already banned exports of unrefined minerals and metals, including gold and copper.

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