The post Sister Betsy Jean Farrakhan appeared first on Final Call News.

The lawsuit filed Sept. 10, Guzmán v. DHS, filed with attorneys from the National Immigration Project, Amica Center for Immigrant Rights and American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, challenges what plaintiffs describe as ICE’s “arrest first, ask questions later” policy. Plaintiffs filed a motion for a preliminary injunction seeking to halt the alleged practice while the case proceeds.

“Every day, as Maryland residents go about their daily lives, traveling to and from work, school, church, and other essential activities, federal immigration agents roam the state’s roadways and parking lots hunting for people to arrest to fill their unattainable quotas. The federal agents—most of whom are from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (‘ICE’)—adhere to a consistent policy: aggressively stop people who they perceive to be Brown or Black immigrants and immediately arrest them without a warrant and without making the individual assessments required for such warrantless arrests,” the complaint says.

Yulie Landan, a staff attorney with the National Immigration Project, shared with The Final Call there are two conditions that must be met before an immigration officer can arrest someone without a warrant. “Before an immigration officer can arrest an individual in their car, in the street, out and about without a warrant, they have to pre-arrest—have individualized probable cause as to that specific person that they are both present in violation of the immigration law and likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained,” she said.

Atty. Landan painted the picture of how so many warrantless arrests are happening in Maryland. “A lot of them are happening while people are in cars driving. Officers are looking at the driver, are seeing that they look Black or Brown, and that’s when they pull them over. ICE does not have independent authority to conduct traffic stops for traffic violations,” she said. “They are pulling people over, often very violently, forcing them out of their cars and arresting them often without asking them a single question.”

Final Call staff who were part of a delegation sent to Springfield, Ohio, by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, heard similar accounts from Haitian activists assisting residents affected by immigration enforcement. Activists told The Final Call that ICE agents drive through the area in large black vehicles actively looking for people to “kidnap.” (See The Final Call, Vol. 45, No. 50)

Haitians in Maryland are also facing ICE impacts. “One of the things we saw start to change early August is that more and more Haitian individuals are being arrested, and that is related to TPS [Temporary Protected Status] being expired now for Haitian individuals,” Atty. Landan said, adding she has seen an uptick in warrantless arrests in the Haitian community. She shared that there have been nearly 7,000 street arrests between January 2025 and August 5, 2026, and of those arrested, nearly 93% are from Latin American and Caribbean countries. “The number here really speaks for itself, and they are stalking the streets looking for drivers and passengers who they think look Brown and Black, and specifically then with the Haitian TPS expiring, that has only worsened the situation,” she said. U.S. citizens have also been arrested, according to the complaint. Some of those arrested are shackled and forced to spend days in a crowded cell before being whisked away to remote detention facilities across the country, the complaint says. “Some are released weeks or months later after a federal habeas court determines their detention was unlawful,” it adds.

“When they took me—without a warrant, without cause—they didn’t just take my freedom. They took a father away from the school pickup line. They removed a husband from his home. They took an essential worker from a family that depends on him,” We Are CASA quoted an anonymous individual in a statement. 

“To my kids—I know you didn’t ask for this. You didn’t ask to be the ones explaining to your friends why Papá wasn’t home. You didn’t ask to be scared every time you heard a car outside, or to grow up faster than you should have,” the individual, identified by the pseudonym Guillermo, said. “But you didn’t just carry that fear silently—you turned it into something else. You stood up for me. You believed in getting your father back when it would have been easier to just be sad and stay quiet. I am standing here today, in part, because my own children refused to give up on me.”

The immigrant rights groups represented plaintiffs in a similar class-action lawsuit in Washington, D.C. In December 2025, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting federal immigration authorities in D.C., from making warrantless civil immigration arrests without probable cause to believe that the person is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained.

“As ICE roams Maryland’s streets looking for people to arrest to fill their quotas, our Brown and Black immigrant neighbors live in constant fear of being arbitrarily arrested, beaten, and shot by masked and armed agents,” Austin Rose, managing attorney at the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, said in a Sept. 10 statement. “Federal courts in other states have already found that ICE’s ‘arrest first, ask questions later’ policy is blatantly unlawful, and now it’s time to put an end to it here in Maryland.”

When the Department of Homeland Security announced deportation operations in Maryland a few weeks ago, Governor Wes Moore issued a statement criticizing the move. While he pointed out that public safety and working with “federal partners” to maintain this safety, is important, he disagreed with the recent moves by ICE.

“These actions also undermine our economy.  I’ve heard firsthand from business leaders across the State that these immigration policies are taking legal workers out of our nursing homes, scaring farmworkers from showing up to work, and making the cost of everything from groceries to delivery services higher,” Gov. Moore said in an Aug. 25 statement.
“Deploying untrained, unqualified, and unaccountable agents to sweep through our communities and spread fear is not a public safety strategy. It undermines trust between law enforcement and the people they serve, and it does not make us safer.”

The post Maryland residents challenge warrantless ICE arrests in federal lawsuit appeared first on Final Call News.

HARARE, Zimbabwe—A television game show in Nigeria’s commercial hub of Lagos has an unforgiving rule: Speak English and you lose. For a U.S.-born millennial in the audience and a student of her parents’ mother tongue, the high-stakes setting is a perfect classroom.

Meanwhile, a 15-year-old Canadian speaks to a teacher about 8,000 miles away in Zimbabwe, learning a language her parents feared she would never speak.

“Mhoroi,” Nyashadzashe Machingura says cheerfully with a pronounced Canadian accent while greeting in Zimbabwe’s vernacular Shona.

The scenes capture a new generation of interest and entrepreneurship around African languages once pushed to the margins by decades of colonialism. Often seen as secondary to English, French and Portuguese, they are enjoying a renaissance that is also creating business opportunities.

There are between 1,500 and 3,000 languages in Africa

Africa is home to over one billion people speaking roughly a third of the world’s languages, with between 1,500 and 3,000 across 54 countries, according to UNESCO.

Experts say the revival in some of them is driven partly by second- and third-generation Africans in the diaspora finding it easier to reconnect with their roots and communicate with older relatives, thanks to social media, online learning and entertainment.

“There were times I definitely felt left out because my family around me were all speaking Shona. And I just couldn’t understand them,” Nyashadzashe said after a lesson covering traditional greetings, proverbs and ancestral clan symbols. She said she had eaten the food and worn the traditional clothing but still felt left out.

But now her conversations with her grandparents in Zimbabwe are growing longer.

“Being able to connect with them on that level makes me really proud of my heritage,” she said.

African languages were never ‘modernized’

Her Zimbabwe-based tutor, Shungu Chidovi, left her banking career in January to focus full-time on ZimbOriginal, an online platform that teaches Shona through storytelling, book clubs and “buddy pairing” exchanges.

Now she teaches about two dozen learners in Zimbabwe, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Ireland and Scotland, charging $50 a month.

The business, part of a small but growing number of online initiatives teaching African languages, emerged almost by accident. Chidovi began writing a blog about Zimbabwean traditions in 2016. Readers began asking whether she taught Shona.

“I didn’t see it at the time that I was really writing about the Shona language,” Chidovi said.

Western languages were prioritized

Like many in Africa, she grew up with the understanding that to get ahead she had to embrace Western languages instead of her mother tongue. English remains the dominant language for education, business and government affairs in the southern African nation that officially recognizes 16 mostly Indigenous languages.

“When you talk of Africa, you talk of English, French, Portuguese,” said Believe Mubonderi, a linguistics lecturer at Zimbabwe Open University. His research notes the importance of ensuring that African languages have a place in technologies shaping how people communicate, learn and trade.

“In most cases, African languages were sidelined. They were never exposed or modernized to be used in commerce, science and technology,” he said. “When a language has a very low status, there’s a danger that that language eventually becomes endangered.”

Culture and connection are driving the new interest

Governments and international organizations are trying to reverse that trend.

The African Union’s 2022 decision to adopt Kiswahili, spoken in much of east Africa, as an official working language has raised its international profile. The United Nations declared 2022-2032 the International Decade of Indigenous Languages.

And the AU continental body and UNESCO are supporting efforts to document and revitalize African languages, including using artificial intelligence to generate and translate children’s books and teacher guides.

But there’s a steep digital disadvantage. UNESCO says only 10 languages around the world dominate the “internet ecosystem,” while less than 2% of African languages have a meaningful online presence. That leaves many with too little data to train artificial intelligence systems.

Still, momentum for change is growing, with much of it from Africans abroad.

“People of African descent have come to realize that we also have our own identity which we need to embrace and be proud of. You go on Facebook, you go on TikTok, you are seeing many different efforts,” Mubonderi said. Younger diaspora Africans “are trying by all means to revive, to revitalize, to make use of these languages.”

Chindovi said she hears that desire from children and their parents.

“When people are away from home, they long for home more than when they are home,” she said.

Nigerian game show penalizes English speakers

That hunger for connection is also reshaping culture.

In Nigeria, a game show called “Masoyinbo,” meaning “Do not speak English,” has turned Yoruba, one of the country’s most widely spoken languages, into prime-time entertainment. Contestants, including diaspora Nigerians, are tested on Yoruba language and culture, with prizes reaching thousands of dollars.

Host Olalekan Fabilola, who started the show in 2024, sees its popularity as part of a wider shift.

“If ‘Masoyinbo’ had started like 10 years ago, it wouldn’t have been what it is now,” he said. “But we are in the age of cultural resurgence. People want to go back to their roots. Everyone wants to know why, where they are from, and so it’s timely.”

Tomi Adeshokan, a New Jersey resident who is learning to perfect her Yoruba with Fabilola as a tutor, was part of the audience during a recent recording of the show. She said she lost daily exposure to Yoruba after moving out of her father’s home before the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, she joined Clubhouse just to hear the language and later began taking classes. Now she was back visiting family.

“It’s very important for us to immerse ourselves in our culture and not to fully identify with other cultures, like the American, the Western culture,” Adeshokan said.

Dan Ikpoyi reported from Lagos, Nigeria

The post Africa’s mother tongues are finding new life as youth connect with roots and relatives appeared first on Final Call News.

The above statement by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan is a statement all of us should consider. As the genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank continues, governments and people around the world are most certainly being tested. Whether we pass or fail, this particular test will ultimately be determined by Almighty God, Allah. This puts us all in the valley of decision.

Lines are clearly being established: people who are outspoken in their support of the Palestinian people and condemn the genocidal actions of Israel, and people who, in their blind loyalty to Israel, attempt to silence these outspoken voices with the false label of “anti-Semitism.” For what? For simply having compassion, being sensitive to human suffering, and having the nerve to express sympathy for Palestinian suffering? This support often comes with a cost to those who dare speak out: smears by the media, threats to careers, livelihoods, or fines.

Those who fail to see the suffering of the Palestinian people are willing to use their money, influence, and power to try to silence and punish these voices for freedom, justice, and equality due to a blind loyalty to Israel and to certain members of the Jewish community.

But strong voices and actions from entertainers and athletes are continuing to join the chorus of others around the world who are standing up for Palestine and condemning the atrocities perpetrated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli regime.

Recently, Grammy-winning rap and pop artist Macklemore was removed from multi-platinum artist Ed Sheeran’s tour for simply expressing his support for Palestine. During an early September stop of the tour at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., Macklemore said in part: “I said Free Palestine. I want those words to be loud and clear, so the people from Gaza, all the way to the occupied West Bank, know that we have not forgotten them.” He also stated, “To all of my Jewish brothers and sisters: criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide in no way is a criticism of you. My message is for peace; love for all human beings to be treated with dignity, respect, and equality. So, I say Free Palestine, I say Free Lebanon, I say Free Cuba, I say Free Congo, Free Sudan, I say free all people in America living in fear of this terrorist organization, ICE. None of us will be free until we are all free.”

It was later reported that Robert Kraft, the Jewish billionaire owner of the NFL’s New England Patriots and owner of Gillette Stadium, and friend of Prime Minister Netanyahu, contacted Ed Sheeran. According to Macklemore, Kraft told Sheeran that he had contacted other NFL owners and would not allow the rapper to perform at their stadiums.

Macklemore was subsequently removed from the tour. However, in a sign of solidarity, other artists withdrew, including Finneas, who posted on Instagram, “Artists must not be silenced when they speak up for the oppressed. I have decided to withdraw from my upcoming tour dates with Ed Sheeran. I stand with Palestine and its people.” 

Azeez Al-Shaair, a pro-bowl linebacker with the NFL’s Houston Texans, also continues to take a stand. He was recently fined $11,492 for wearing “Hind Rajab” on his eye back during the first game of the season. Hind was a five-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed in Gaza City in 2024 along with other family members when Israeli troops fired multiple shots into their vehicle.

NBA star Kyrie Irving offered to pay his fellow athlete’s fine, posting on social media, “I’ll take care of his fine.” Last season, Al-Shaair was fined for wearing “Stop The Genocide.”

The topic of Israel and Palestine has been a volatile one for decades. In the 78 years since the State of Israel’s establishment in the Middle East, world sentiment has firmly been on the side of the occupier state for the most part. However, since its inception in 1948, which led to the expulsion and displacement of 700,000-750,000 Palestinians from their homeland, those left behind have been under an apartheid system. The Israeli government, with the help of the United States, has made daily life and conditions unbearable for the Palestinian people.

The U.S. government continues sending billions of dollars to Israel. The Trump administration is reportedly planning to deliver powerful 2,000-pound bombs to Israel as part of an upcoming $2.8 billion arms package which, according to Associated Press, “includes 40,000 of the bombs, made up of 20,000 Mk84s and 20,000 BLU-117s, according to two U.S. officials and a person familiar with the plan who spoke Sept. 15 on condition of anonymity to discuss the package, which is not yet final.” Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and his counterpart Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) placed a hold on the package, expressing concerns about more civilians being harmed, according to reporting from various news outlets. “All of us share concern about what Israel is doing,” Senator Shaheen told CNN.

America and Israel seem determined to continue their warmongering. But the opposition and pushback is getting stronger.

The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, the Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam, warned of what would unfold in the Middle East, which is now unfolding today. In pages 171-172 of His landmark book, “The Fall of America,” in the chapter, “The Destruction and Fall,” the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad writes, “America and England deposited their little brother, Israel, on foreign soil, Palestine, which is Arab land. They deprived the Arabs of their own land and sent them into exile.” He then warns, “This injustice against the Arabs is now costing America the power and authority that she once exercised in the East. She is on her way out of the Near East. This means bloodshed and plenty of it.”

There have been nearly 73,000 deaths and 174,900 wounded in Gaza since October 7, 2023.

As Minister Farrakhan noted, we cannot and must not turn a blind eye to the plight of what the Palestinians have and continue to suffer under an apartheid regime.

“If you could look at their suffering, and it don’t move you, you have lost your humanity.  If you can see a dog suffer and have compassion … . If you can see your favorite horse suffer, where you’ve got to put him down, you feel pain!  Palestinian mothers are crying over the loss of their children!  I watched them cry; I watched them touch their babies that are dead, and don’t want to let the baby go to be buried,” Minister Farrakhan said during his 2024 Saviours’ Day message.

“That’s not a barbarian feeling, that’s a human feeling.  I saw Jews that were suffering, too, burying their dead, and weeping as the Palestinians are weeping.  These are not barbarians!  They have suffered from Israel’s presence in Palestine,” Minister Farrakhan said.

Are we on the side of freedom, justice, and equality for all, or on the side that chooses to remain silent, acquiesce, and compromise for comfort, while others suffer? The choice is ours. Today, we are all in the valley of decision.

The post The valley of decision appeared first on Final Call News.

At about $750 billion (now $4.3 trillion) in spending, America spends more on health care than any other country. However, very little of this money is spent on preventive care. If America seriously hopes to end its crisis in health care, it must redirect its attention to preventive care.

While I support a reasonable universal health care coverage plan, making America healthy must become the personal responsibility of each citizen, and not the responsibility of government, except in those cases where preventive care is not adequate. 

This approach would require that each individual becomes more knowledgeable, and that leadership in the food industry, medical community and government become more responsible in providing and teaching the people the truth about caring for the human body.

The greatest gift that we have been given is the gift of life. The essence of our very being is housed within this magnificent creation of flesh and blood known as our bodies.

Unfortunately, we live in a society that misdirects us and misinforms us in such a way that we place our own bodies at risk. We take care of our clothes, our pets and our material possessions better than we take care of our own bodies.

Knowledge is the principle resource that can help us take better care of our bodies and our health. God, the Creator and Sustainer of all life, has given us direction for taking care of our health. However, we live in a society that is in opposition to the directions from the Giver of life, and as a result we suffer.

It is sad that buying material possessions is valued more than getting a simple yearly checkup by a competent doctor. It is sad that watching television several hours a day takes precedence over scheduling a few minutes of exercise that would help keep our bodies and our minds fit. 

It is sad that we put more emphasis on going to movies and listening to music feeding our minds through the reading of proper books and literature.

And it’s a tragedy that we overeat, eat the wrong foods, smoke, take drugs, drink alcohol, and take an excessive amount of pills to cope with life’s stresses instead of developing the core values and self­-control to protect ourselves from these addictions.

Here again, the airwaves can be used to promote a healthy lifestyle among the people.

The post Knowledge and valuing our bodies properly  appeared first on Final Call News.

The leadership of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), and the Army praised the continuous public mobilization, describing it as the ultimate deterrent against the United States and Israel.

They commended the historic turning point that has shattered Western calculations for “regime change” and societal fracture.

Major General Mohsen Rezaei, the SNSC secretary, framed the 200-night mobilization not merely as a security response, but as a definitive break from Iran’s tragic history of foreign subjugation over the past two centuries and before the Islamic Revolution. 

“In the last 200 years, Iran was repeatedly targeted by invasions, occupations, and foreign interventions, where a lack of national cohesion led to defeats, unequal treaties, and the loss of territory,” the SNSC statement read.

“But today, we can say with certainty that history did not repeat itself. In these 200 days, the people of Iran showed that their entire existence is dedicated to their country.”

The top security official said the Iranian public has become the most vital pillar of national deterrence, successfully dismantling the “false dichotomies” of internal division that Western intelligence agencies hoped to exploit.

“The enemy, which sought to break the nation’s will through military pressure, is now on its knees before your resolve,” General Rezaei noted, calling the nighttime vigils an immortal epic that has effectively healed the historical wounds of foreign humiliation.

A renewed oath

Echoing these sentiments, IRGC Commander-in-Chief Major General Ahmad Vahidi described the rallies as a “national awakening” and a profound spiritual manifestation.

General Vahidi highlighted that the massive street presence served as a renewed oath of allegiance to the new Leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei, following the assassination of his father, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, on the first day of the recent 40-day war of aggression.

General Vahidi warned that having failed on the battlefield, the U.S.-Israeli coalition is now pivoting to cognitive warfare, economic strangulation, and attempts to induce public fatigue.

He urged the public to counter this hybrid war by embracing a resistance economy and advancing domestic scientific production.

“The IRGC stands ready to avenge the pure blood of our martyred Leader and will decisively crush any miscalculation by the enemy.”

‘Iran’s internal structural strength’

Army Commander-in-Chief Major General Amir Hatami also praised the demonstrations for showing the “internal structural strength” of the Islamic Republic.

He said the continuous public backing has completely upended hostile military planning and psychological operations.

“This historic presence proved that Iran’s true power, alongside the deterrence of our armed forces, is rooted in the faith and unity of the nation.”

The Iranian general reaffirmed the Army’s unwavering commitment to defending the territorial integrity and national honor under the command of the new Leader.

The nightly demonstrations first began in the immediate aftermath of February 28, when the United States and Israel launched a full-scale war of aggression against Iran.

What began as spontaneous outpourings of grief and outrage following the bombardment of Iranian cities and civilian infrastructure quickly crystallized into a synchronized, nationwide movement.

By early March, citizens across Iran’s major metropolitan centers and rural provinces alike had established a routine of gathering in public squares every night after sunset.

These nightly vigils serve a dual purpose on the Iranian home front. On one level, they act as a massive morale-boosting mechanism for the armed forces, with crowds frequently directing their chants and solidarity toward the frontline soldiers of the Army and the IRGC.

On another level, they function as a rejection of Western psychological warfare. Participants routinely light candles for the martyrs, wave national flags, and chant anti-oppression slogans, signaling an unwavering refusal to capitulate to foreign coercion or economic strangulation.

(PressTV.co.uk)

The post Top security, military brass hail 200 nights  of nationwide rallies as proof of Iran’s strength appeared first on Final Call News.

Individuals or businesses discovered engaging in trade with Israeli settlements may be subject to a prison sentence of up to three years, according to the proposed Norwegian trade restrictions bill.

Norway’s Foreign Minister, Espen Barth Eide, expressed optimism that the law would be passed by parliament this coming autumn.

Eide told the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK that “Lawmakers are facing increasing pressure to respond to the deteriorating situation in the Palestinian territories.”

He added that numerous other nations are adopting measures similar to those which the Oslo government has already proposed with the bill. Eide said he believed that Israel has grown excessively accustomed to intimidating Western nations by accusing them of anti-Semitism whenever they criticize Israel for its abuses and breaches of international law.

On September 8, the United Kingdom, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden announced plans to implement trade restrictions on products sourced from Israeli settlements.

About 750,000 Israeli settlers live in 156 illegal settlements and 360 settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank, including East al-Quds. They routinely carry out attacks aimed at forcibly displacing Palestinians, according to Palestinian figures.

The UN regards these settlements as illegal under international law and the Geneva Conventions because they are built on occupied land. The UN Security Council has banned Israel’s settlement activity in several resolutions.

In July 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s decades-long occupation of historical Palestine illegal and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East al-Quds. Those rulings, like so many before them, have remained mere words.

(PressTV.co.uk)

The post Norway joins 11 other states to criminalize trade with West Bank settlements appeared first on Final Call News.

When the BRIC group, as it was known then, first emerged, it was greeted with amusement as another exotic variety of alphabet soup in the age of globalization. As it became a more permanent fixture, it was regarded as a poor man’s version of a global club, like a humble answer to the G7.

More recently, it has come to be feared, not least by U.S. President Donald Trump, as a potential threat to the dominance of the American dollar. In the run-up to the 2026 BRICS summit in New Delhi, the Western media shifted its focus to the divergences within the group, essentially portraying it as something less than the sum of its parts.

However, all these interpretations miss the actual significance of BRICS, which is its role as an early model of the emerging multipolar order.

Over the past five centuries or so, roughly the period of Western global hegemony, the world order has invariably been based on the dominance of a single power, whether Spain, France, Britain or America, or a combination of powers, such as the Concert of Europe or the U.S.-Soviet bipolar system.

Single-power hegemony remains very much alive in the West today, whether one looks at NATO, AUKUS, international financial institutions or Washington-led alliances in Asia and elsewhere. True, the European Union does not exactly fit this model, but it has NATO as its bedrock, while its members maintain strong, and unequal, relations with the United States.

What keeps these countries together isn’t merely geopolitics and geoeconomics, given they also share a broadly similar worldview, even if its liberal and conservative versions can occasionally clash rather vehemently. Taken together, they represent Western civilization, along with a handful of associates, but BRICS is a very different creature.

Its members vary enormously in population, territory, economic weight, military strength and technological and scientific capabilities and their histories aren’t as closely intertwined as those of Europe and North America, while their political systems are highly diverse and their domestic and foreign policies often point in different directions.

Most fundamentally, they represent several great civilizations, including Chinese and Confucian, Indian and Hindu, Islamic, Persian and Arab, Latin American, African and Russian. In this sense, they’re anything but like-minded, yet they reflect the diversity of humankind itself.

What BRICS obviously lacks is a leader because China, with its 1.5 billion people, the world’s largest economy in purchasing-power-parity terms and a leading position in advanced technology, isn’t the group’s boss and nor is Russia, the world’s fourth-largest economy by the same measure, and alongside the United States, a nuclear superpower.

Despite what Moscow sees as NATO waging a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, it hasn’t attempted to turn BRICS into an anti-Western bloc.

India, meanwhile, is the third major economic power in the group and has overtaken China as the world’s most populous country. It still maintains close ties with America and Western Europe while preserving and developing its historical links with Russia, even as it remains wary of China.

Iran and the United Arab Emirates, for their part, find themselves on opposite sides of the ongoing war involving Iran, Israel, and the United States, but BRICS isn’t unraveling.

Chinese President Xi Jinping traveled to the Delhi summit, his first visit to India in seven years and a sign that Beijing clearly doesn’t want to give Washington an opportunity to exploit existing problems in Sino-Indian relations to stoke tensions between Asia’s two great powers.

Meanwhile, even as it lashes out against U.S. bases in the region, Iran is reaching out to its Arab neighbors to discuss a regional security framework in the Persian Gulf.

The durability of Russo-Chinese relations since their normalization in 1989 rests not only on a convergence of fundamental interests, but also on Beijing’s and Moscow’s ability to manage their differences carefully on specific issues.

While the political philosophies of BRICS countries differ widely, they adhere to several key principles that make cooperation possible and at the top of the list is sovereignty as we see Russia, China, India, Iran and others not only preach sovereignty but seek to defend and promote it.

Closely linked to sovereignty is equality, and Russia’s Western adversaries have long sought to humiliate Moscow by portraying it as Beijing’s vassal, as if Western Europe’s kowtowing to Washington and Trump were mere politeness.

In reality, Sino-Russian political relations are conducted on an equal footing and the same applies to Russia’s relations with its other BRICS partners, from Brazil and Indonesia to Egypt.

Sovereign equality also implies non-interference in other nations’ domestic politics which comes more easily to countries that don’t present themselves as models or sole guardians of universal values. Accepting others as they are, and respecting the right of other peoples to have their own institutions, is a prerequisite for genuine relations between civilizations.

There’s no need to make BRICS appear to be something it is not, it’s not an alliance or an anti-Western coalition, and if anything, its record offers a glimpse of a different kind of world order.

This is no paradise, but it’s an order in which diversity can thrive, sovereignty is treated as sacred, differences can be managed and consensus, rather than diktat, is the guiding principle.

Decision-making is admittedly difficult and conflicts, including violent ones, are by no means excluded, but it offers a much fairer deal than an order in which one nation or group of nations can impose itself on others, lay down rules for everyone except itself, and then judge and punish those it considers offenders.

Dmitry Trenin, is president of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) and a lead research fellow at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations. He is also a research professor at the Higher School of Economics.

The post Why the West still misunderstands BRICS appeared first on Final Call News.

In The Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful.

The Time of the Manifestation of Defects

Surah 29 of the Holy Qur’an is entitled, “The Spider.” The Spider is an interesting creature. It spins a web and lightweight creatures get caught in its web. After a fly or another insect gets caught in the web, the spider travels very quickly in that web, to its meal. It injects venom into the internal organs of the fly and breaks it down into a liquid. Then, the spider sucks the inside of the fly, leaving only the form, but it is no longer what it was.

If the fly does not get out of the trap within three seconds, it becomes the spider’s meal. The number “3” is important. How many days did Jesus descend into hell? But on the third day, he arose. Jesus told Peter, “Before the cock crows once, you will deny me thrice.” But he also told him not to worry because, after the third denial, he would stand up and return to his faith.

The spider spins its web from itself. Many say, “It’s not the man, it’s the plan. It’s not the White man, it’s the system.” But the system came from a man. So, don’t ever say it’s not the man, it’s the plan. The plan came out of a man. We used to sing a song in church, “The devil is mad and I’m so glad, ’cause he missed the soul that he thought he had.” The enemy of God is always working to trap us. Once he gets you in the web of his machination, scheme or plan, he moves quickly to inject you with a word that has a function–like a spider’s enzyme–that breaks down your spiritual form.

Many of you are really good people, despite how ugly or bad you may act, you are really good at the core. But you get trapped. What traps you? What tricks you? What grabs you, that allows Satan to get a hold on you? He comes after you in your own desires. “I’m a beautiful, young woman,” she says, “but I don’t have a man. So, I’m looking, hard.”

Satan always appears in the form of what you desire–and so does God. In the Holy Qur’an, Allah (God) said to Mary, “And you shall conceive and it will be a man child and he will be a prophet.” She said, “But how can I, when a man has not yet touched me?” And Allah (God) said, “That is easy for me. All I have to say is ‘Be!’ and it is.” In another part of the Holy Qur’an, it says, “And we sent her Our spirit and it appeared unto her in the form of a well-made man.” If God can send His spirit to fulfill the desire of a righteous woman, then the enemy can send his spirit in the form of a man to fulfill negative purposes for your life.

This is why the Bible says that you have to become wise to be able to discern the spirit, because the outward look is not important. It is the spirit that you must discern, because Satan, the Bible says, is able to transform himself into an angel of light. If Satan can do that, then Satan can appear to you in whatever form will please you.

You are looking for somebody to help you fulfill your desire: “I am a singer of songs, a writer of music, but I need a publisher. I need an agent. I need a manager.” “I’m a beautiful young lady. I have a nice form, I’m tall and thin and I would like to be a model.” “I’m a mathematician. I’m an engineer. I just graduated from Morehouse and I’m ready for a job.” “I saw a commercial for a beautiful Mitsubishi, BMW, Mercedes or Cadillac.”

You want something, but how do you get what you want and at what price? When Satan is after you, you have to give up something. For example, a nice young woman, a virgin, meets a nice young man on campus. She is attracted to him and he is attracted to her. He tells her, “So many girls are attracted to me, Sister. Are you going to give up your virginity, because I don’t have any time to waste on a girl who won’t give it up?” She thinks that young man is her friend, but he is spinning a web.

On the other hand, sometimes a young man may want a woman, but he says he is a Muslim trying to be right. She tells him, “But Brother, bring that Final Call newspaper over here ’cause, honey, I’m calling.” But if he responds, it might be his final call. Or, you may have just graduated from college and you go back to see your friends. They’re happy to see you. You’re clean now and you want to celebrate. Your buddy who grew up with you, but did not go to college, has some drugs in his pocket and wants you to go get high with him. Here comes Satan in the form of your friend, spinning a web. You may have three minutes to say, “No thank you, Brother, I’ll see you at another time.”

You cannot want to be righteous and hang out with people who do not want what is right. If you want to be right, you should hang out with people who want right and you will stay right. If you hang out with the wicked, it won’t be long before the spider has spun its web and then, with a few words, they break you down. Your resistance is gone. But it starts from within.

If Jesus was so beloved of God, but he had to be tried, then how can we escape being tried? Satan walked up to Jesus and told him, “Come up on this mountain with me. Take a walk with me.” This shows us that we have to walk with our trials. Satan told Jesus, “Look at all of those cities. I’m master over those cities. If you bow down to me, I’ll give you all of that.” But Jesus, in his mind, said, “I am destined to rule over the cities. I would rather wait on my Father to give the power to rule to me.” Then he said, “Get thee behind me, Satan.”

Some of us want things so bad that we compromise things of value to get something that you think is very valuable, but in actuality, is less valuable than what you gave up. A fair exchange is when you give up something to get something equal to what you gave up. But when you give up principle and lose your soul in the process, then whatever you get in that transaction does not benefit you. It could be a beautiful home, but you will not have any peace in it. It could be a nice car. It could be the man that you thought was the man of your dreams or the woman that you thought was the one you were looking for all your life.

If you have to compromise your principles and give up virtue to hold on to nothing, then you do not rejoice in the bargain that you made, that day. But Allah (God) says in the Holy Qur’an, “Rejoice in the bargain that you have made this day, for I have given you the Garden in exchange for your lives.” Then, Allah (God) tells us to rejoice in that bargain because, although your life was worthless, He asked you to give Him your worthless life so that He could give you the Paradise. When you make that bargain, that bargain gives you joy.

***

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad told me one day that the FBI was looking for him. Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor and the FBI wanted to arrest him. They could not afford to have him on the street preaching to Black people while America was trying to prosecute a war, because they have always wanted to use Black people–in wartime, at election time and any other time. So, they had come for him, but he walked down the stairs, right passed them; and they saw him and didn’t see him. When God wants to hide you, He can hide you in the open. He boarded a train to Philadelphia. He said that, while the sound of the tracks was coming up in his ears, he heard the voice of Master Fard Muhammad saying to him, “Do men think that they will be left alone on saying, ‘We believe’ and will not be tried? And indeed, we tried those before them. So, Allah will certainly know those who are true and He will know the liars.”

That’s all that he heard, but it was enough. When he reached Philadelphia, he made up his mind. He knew he was being tried, so he was going to go back and face his trial. So, now they have a picture of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, in handcuffs, walking between two FBI agents, as they took him to prison by an executive order of President Roosevelt. We may face an order like that today, because the war that America is now waging in the Middle East is going to get deeper and wider, and they will try to silence my voice and the voices of others. I am not afraid. If the president signs an executive order stating, “Farrakhan has to be arrested,” we will just see how that plays out–but no one who believes in God can escape being tried.

Trials are like tests. How well did you study? Some of us do not study, but still pass tests because we paid attention in class. Tests show us weakness. In order for Allah (God) to perfect His creation, He must manifest its weakness. So, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad calls this period “the Time of the Manifestation of Defects.” How do you know if what you created works until you test it? When you test it and see its weaknesses, you then say, “I have to fix that.” So it is with God. He wants to perfect us, so that He can use us for the redemption of our people and all of humanity. So, we have to be tried and our defects manifested in order for us to be perfected.

When you come into a place like the mosque, it can be very difficult. Imagine that you are sitting next to someone and you see boils pop out all over them. You may look horrified at them because you have not looked into a mirror to see boils are popping out all over you, too. Sometimes, the mosque can be an unbearable place, because the activity of the mosque and the workings of God bring out of us characteristics that we did not know were inside of us. The work of Jesus was casting out demons. Behind those smiles and greetings of “As-Salaam Alaikum,” there are a lot of demons. As we interact with the word, each other, the program, laborers and officials, demonic characteristics begin to come up and out of us.

You may doubt and say, “Well, maybe, I don’t belong here.” So, you run away but, when you look in the mirror, you no longer see your boils, because now you are not in an environment that is able to bring out what is inside of you. Instead, you melt to the poisoned environment of the world and become like what you have melted into. So, the web was spun, because you could not take the process of cleaning up. You can be a funky person on the outside of the mosque, but once you come inside the mosque, you cannot stay funky, because there is something in the mosque to clean and wash funk away. When you smell the funk of your Brother, you should check under your own arm. Allah (God) is working on us, but if you do not stay in the process, you will not see the result of yourself being made into Him.

“Do men think that they will be left alone on saying, ‘We believe’ and will not be tried, while others were tried before you?” So, expect a trial. Look for a trial. Allah (God) says in the Qur’an that He will try the Believers at least once a year, severely. How will He try us? Sometimes, if you know what’s on the test in advance–someone gave you the test in advance, and you wrote the answers on your hand–then you passed the test. Not with God. He tries us in a way that we least expect, but you cannot be tried except by what you love and desire.

In the Holy Qur’an, Allah (God) says to Prophet Muhammad, “Surely, I am going to try you with something of fear, hunger, loss of property, loss of life and diminution of fruit. But give good news to those who are patient and steadfast under trial.” But the good news only comes after you have been tested. The Holy Qur’an also says that “after difficulty, comes ease” and, in another place, it says, “with difficulty, comes ease.”

***

When you become afraid, it can cause you to compromise yourself. Challenge your fear to hold onto your principle and Allah (God) will strengthen you and reward you with victory. Do not allow yourself to be made afraid by an enemy who is always trying to offer you an advantage for betraying your beliefs. Do you want the advantages of the enemy more than you want the strength of your own soul? Do you want to be like the fly that looks like a fly on the outside, but all that made it a fly is gone from the inside? Muslims, Christians, Nationalists, Revolutionaries, all of us will be tried. The enemy wants to know if you are really sincere in what it is that you profess. He will keep sifting you until he finds your weakness and that is the door through which he comes to take your soul.

***

Jesus was a man that they were after before he was born. While his mother carried him in the womb, Herod sent out a decree to kill all boy babies from two years old and under. So, she had to flee and hide, but at a certain point Jesus had to return to Palestine to speak and prophesy to the Children of Israel. When he goes back, they hate him and his world, without a cause. He knew what it was like to be scorned, rebuked, hated, lied on and conspired against. None of that caused his character to waiver. Good news was for the one who was patient and steadfast under trial.

You say you love Jesus, but you do not want to follow him. It is not about singing songs or talking about how great Jesus is. The heavens and the earth testify to his greatness. He did not ask us to worship him; he asked us to follow him. He said, “If any man would be my disciple, he must first deny himself, pick up his cross.” You cannot carry Jesus’ cross. You have a cross, but you do not want to pick it up. You are people that want to get to heaven, but do not want to pay the price. You are a people that want your enemy out of the way, but you are not willing to sacrifice to make yourself into the man and woman who would make your enemy flee. You do not want to be rebuked and scorned by your people. You do not want to be lied on.

But if you do not want the cross, then you will never wear the crown. You can run and hide, but God is calling you. “Do men think that they will be left alone on saying ‘We believe’ and will not be tried?” The Masons say, “I’ve been tried, seldom denied, willing to be tried again.”

The post The Spider: No one who believes in God will escape being tried appeared first on Final Call News.

In the U.S., the summer of 2026 through today has been marked by active wildfires, thunderstorms, and a string of coastal and seismic events. These events will become more frequent, and as the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam, warned, “the worst is yet to come.” His National Representative, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, has constantly warned to “watch the weather.” For decades, both Divine Servants and Warners taught their followers to prepare for these pending calamities.

September is National Preparedness Month and was established in 2004 by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) to encourage individuals, their families, neighborhoods and communities to prepare for natural and man-made weather-related and other disasters and emergencies.

Weather and warning

Southern California felt the effects of Tropical Storm Marie over Labor Day weekend in early September, even though the storm itself never made landfall, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). Its Los Angeles/Oxnard office reported a significant southerly swell producing hazardous surf conditions – reaching up to 5- 15 feet high on some beaches and life-threatening rip currents along the coast- alongside increasing heat and humidity causing moderate to major impacts focused on the coasts and valleys.

In Malibu, a beachfront driveway on Sea Level Drive collapsed on September 8, forming a sinkhole roughly 25–30 feet deep and 30 by 60 feet wide, and rupturing a natural gas line, prompting the proclamation of a local emergency the same day. City building inspectors ultimately red-tagged seven properties for direct structural damage from the collapse and red-tagged an additional 24 homes because the destroyed roadway cut off emergency vehicle access. The 31 properties were placed under an evacuation order, according to an official statement and Emergency Proclamation, Sept. 8–9.

Student Minister Ishmael Muhammad is the National Assistant to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and a son of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and he recently spoke on these extreme weather events and what they signify.

“I wish we could tell you that it’s going to go away soon. It’s not. It’s not. The only way that God will stay His hand is if America does a miraculous thing,” he said, in part 4 of his message, “Accept Your Own And Be Yourself,” delivered September 16, 2026 at Mosque Maryam in Chicago. He referenced the Bible and the book of Jonah 3:6 and the King of Nineveh and the people humbling themselves before God to repent. Nineveh was a great and powerful nation, and God sent the prophet Jonah to warn them of their wickedness before His Judgment.

“He came out in sackcloth and ashes, and repented, and asked God, but it was from the king all the way down to the little man, and the whole city went out in sackcloth and ashes, and that stayed the hand of God,” Student Min. Ishmael Muhammad explained.

“What if we just did that in a city? … Pray to your God. But the whole point is, see, unless we repent, unless we ask God for forgiveness, then things are not going to get better. But America? America is under divine judgment. That’s the point I’m making: the weather is going continue to intensify, and Minister Farrakhan has told us for years. What does he say?” he asked the audience.

“Watch the weather!” some replied. He repeated, “What did he say?” “Watch the weather,” they replied. “Okay. Well, these rains and these storms are only going to intensify,” added Student Minister Ishmael Muhammad.

The damage from Hurricane Marie sustained in Dana Point, located in Orange County, California, impacted the area’s Beach Road/Capistrano Bay community beginning August 28. When a residential deck was destroyed by coastal erosion undermining a home’s foundation. Inspectors inspected it and red-tagged it the same night.

“It is a war zone down here,” Chris Rogers told ABC 7. Their back deck is gone, and their kitchen now opens up to the ocean, she reported during a tour of their property.

The City’s Director of Emergency Services issued a formal Proclamation of the Existence of a Local Emergency for the Capistrano Bay Community Services District on September 9.

In Long Beach, waves generated by the remnants of Hurricane Marie battered the Peninsula neighborhood for several consecutive days beginning around September 6. The Long Beach Fire Department issued mandatory evacuation orders for approximately 20 homes in the Seaside Walk community, between 63rd and 67th Place, after waves compromised a seawall and damaged the boardwalk.

Earthquakes near Compton and nationwide wildfires

A magnitude 3.1 earthquake struck on September 6 about 2.5 miles Southeast of Compton, Calif., according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). This followed a similar-magnitude earthquake near Ontario, in neighboring San Bernardino County, on September 2. On September 17, USGS recorded a second magnitude 3.1 earthquake at the identical location.

Nationwide, wildfire activity remained severe through late summer. As of August 31, approximately 8.2 million acres had burned across the country and the National Preparedness Level stayed at Level 5, the highest possible, throughout August, with active-duty military and international crews from Australia and New Zealand brought in to help with firefighting resources, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

By early September, the national preparedness level had eased to Level 3, though 56 large fires remained uncontained nationwide as of September 17, with 86 new fires reported in a single day and more than 12,000 personnel assigned to incidents, USGS reported.

Texas became one of the season’s most active states in late August, when the Ross Fire ignited August 24 near Fort Worth and grew to roughly 80,000 acres, prompting the evacuation of about 630 homes overnight, according to Governor Greg Abbott’s office.

Preparedness is key

Nation of Islam Student Southwest Regional Minister Dr. Abdul Haleem Muhammad, an urban planner, strongly suggested that people stop procrastinating and take this lull before the next calamity to prepare to either learn what is required to shelter in place or evacuate during these natural and man-made disasters. “Your very life is at stake. The frequency, intensity, and the sudden unfolding of these events should heighten our awareness and efforts toward preparedness,” he said.

Sister A’ishah Muhammad, a member of the Nation of Islam Shura Executive Council and National Student Auditing Coordinator, said the pattern of disasters striking unfamiliar regions demands a mindset shift. “It doesn’t matter where we live anymore,” she said. “We used to expect tornadoes in certain parts of the country and hurricanes in others … but at any moment, at any time, it could strike any one of us.”

She described residents of her own town walking around “in a trance” after an EF-1 tornado, unable to believe their community could be hit—and she pointed to Minister Farrakhan’s longstanding instruction to “watch the weather” as guidance too many still dismiss until disaster forces the point home.

“Although we have been talking about and encouraging and pushing and warning others to pay attention to the Divine Warner, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, some of us, as they used to say in the South: ‘don’t believe that fat meat is greasy,’ until we are faced with it, unfortunately. Now we don’t have to really try to convince too many because they see it for themselves. There are still those of us who don’t get it until we feel it, and unfortunately we will have to feel (it) hard! Hopefully we can live beyond that to make sound decisions going forward,” she told The Final Call.

In practical terms, Sis. A’ishah Muhammad explained that it is better to have the items and supplies needed to prepare ourselves and our families than to have nothing.

“It’s better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it,” she said, describing how households in flood-prone areas should keep a small boat, raft, or canoe with paddles, wading boots, and life vests on hand.

She stressed neighborhood-level readiness—meeting neighbors, discussing what has worked and what has not, and arranging walkable backup shelter agreements—alongside power redundancy. Power redundancy, she explained, means that generators need backups of their own, and even a sump pump’s battery should be swapped every three years, since a working indicator light doesn’t guarantee full power.

She recalled Indiana residents stranded at gas stations during outages, one paying “two dollars and some change” just to beat someone else to the last portion of the fuel.

Sister A’ishah Muhammad also flagged less obvious preparedness gaps, such as safely managing dry ice used to preserve food during extended outages and planning for basic sanitation if toilets stop working.

The Nation of Islam has made online videos available that cover several practical preparedness areas to help individuals protect themselves and their families while sheltering in place as severe weather becomes more frequent.

Panelists discussed situational awareness, cybersecurity, how to respond in a medical emergency, how to secure one’s home, being security-minded, protecting self and family while building alliances in the community, how to secure, organize, and occupy children while sheltering in place, what to do to prepare for an emergency evacuation, handling stress, and other tips.

The videos are available to view on media.noi.org or watch.noi.org under the titles: “The Days of Trouble: Are We Prepared?” and on The Nation of Islam official Facebook Page.

The post Are you and your family prepared? appeared first on Final Call News.