Iran Issues Threats to USS Ford Strike Group, Fars News
FILE PHOTO: USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier arrives at Souda Bay on the island of Crete, Greece, February 23, 2026. REUTERS/Stelios Misinas/File Photo
Iran Issues Threats to USS Ford Strike Group, Fars News
FILE PHOTO: USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier arrives at Souda Bay on the island of Crete, Greece, February 23, 2026. REUTERS/Stelios Misinas/File Photo
Logistics and service centers enabling the USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier to remain operational were considered to be targets by Iran, the spokesperson for the unified command of Iranian armed forces, Khatam al-Anbiya, said on Monday.
"Aircraft carrier Gerald Ford in the Red Sea is a threat to Iran. Accordingly, the logistics and service centers for USS Ford strike group are considered to be targets," Ebrahim Zolfaqari said in a video shared by the semi-official Fars news agency.
Trump Says He will Nominate Todd Blanche as US Attorney Generalhttps://english.aawsat.com/world/5280482-trump-says-he-will-nominate-todd-blanche-us-attorney-general
Trump Says He will Nominate Todd Blanche as US Attorney General
FILED - 03 March 2026, US, Washington: FILE PHOTO - US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting in the White House. Photo: Kay Nietfeld/dpa
President Donald Trump said he would move to nominate acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche on Thursday to permanently lead the Justice Department, which would make his former personal lawyer the nation's top law enforcement officer.
"He's acting attorney general. Tomorrow. I'm instructing Dan (Scavino) and everybody else that's involved in that very complicated process - which is going to go, I think, very quickly - that we are going to make him permanent attorney general," Trump said at a White House event, according to a video posted on X late on Wednesday by his aide Scavino, Reuters reported.
Blanche, 51, took over leadership of the Justice Department after Trump fired Pam Bondi in April amid tension over the agency's release of files related to convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and frustration that the department was not moving forcefully enough against the White House's supposed political enemies. Blanche has faced backlash from Republican senators, and even some White House aides, over the Justice Department's now-scuttled plan to create a $1.8 billion fund for victims of alleged government "weaponization."
To be confirmed, Blanche would need near-unanimous Republican support in the Senate, which Republicans control by a narrow 53-47 margin. He said on Tuesday that the DOJ would not be moving forward with the plan, which sparked fierce bipartisan opposition and threatened to derail a $72 billion funding package for Trump's immigration crackdown.
But Trump on Wednesday would not say whether the fund had been terminated or was on hold, saying, "I'd have to ask the lawyers. I don't know."
"I love it. I think it's so important," Trump told reporters at the White House. "The weaponization fund, as far as I'm concerned, was a beautiful thing."
Some lawmakers have called for a ban on the fund to be documented in writing or codified into law. Blanche told members of Congress this week that he would not commit to putting anything into writing. Trump said in an interview broadcast on Wednesday that he was likely to nominate Blanche to the permanent position.
Blanche has moved quickly as acting attorney general to ingratiate himself to Trump and his political movement. In addition to the fund, the DOJ under Blanche has removed press releases detailing cases arising from the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, released a report condemning past prosecutions of anti-abortion activists and secured criminal charges against the Southern Poverty Law Center civil rights group and former FBI Director James Comey, a longtime Trump foe.
Norway Aid Group: Sudan, DR Congo Top World's Most Neglected Criseshttps://english.aawsat.com/world/5280377-norway-aid-group-sudan-dr-congo-top-worlds-most-neglected-crises
Sudanese refugees from Al-Fashir, displaced by ongoing conflict in Sudan, gather at sunset at the Tine transit camp in eastern Chad, November 23, 2025. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
Norway Aid Group: Sudan, DR Congo Top World's Most Neglected Crises
Sudanese refugees from Al-Fashir, displaced by ongoing conflict in Sudan, gather at sunset at the Tine transit camp in eastern Chad, November 23, 2025. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Colombia top the list of the world's most neglected displacement crises, the Norwegian Refugee Council aid group said on Thursday.
Sudan, which since 2023 has been ravaged by a bloody conflict between two rival generals competing for power, has more than nine million internally displaced people, the prominent aid organization said in a statement.
A further four million Sudanese have fled to neighboring countries and nearly 19.5 million people there are also suffering from hunger, the NRC said.
"It is incomprehensible that a displacement crisis of similar proportions to the crises in Syria and Ukraine at their peak can continue to worsen almost unnoticed," NRC chief Jan Egeland said.
"Countries have become much more inward-looking, more nationalist.
Rearmament is now an absolute priority because we have to ensure our own security in Europe. There is Putin threatening us, and so on," Egeland said in comments to the NRK broadcaster.
"But people then forget that there will be pandemics, migratory movements, and enormous loss of human life if we don't invest in hope on other continents."
"Africa is just across the Mediterranean, where we go on holiday. And if the continent collapses, we will also suffer the consequences."
Relatives mourn during the funeral of a person who died of Ebola in Bunia, Ituri Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 03 June 2026. EPA/DIEUDONNE DIROLE
The Democratic Republic of Congo, where an Ebola epidemic has added turmoil to the east of the country ravaged by decades of conflict, appears on NRC's list for the 10th year in a row.
In 2025, only 27.4 percent of the funding needed for DR Congo has been secured, leaving more than 21 million people in need, according to the NRC.
"This is a testament to the world's failure to respond to crises that are not regarded as strategically important for rich countries," Egeland said in the NRC statement.
"Millions of people are being abandoned because we have chosen not to act, not because we cannot."
The NGO's list is based on three criteria: lack of humanitarian funding, lack of media coverage, and lack of political will within the international community.
Several African countries -- Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Mali and Nigeria -- have featured on NRC's list six or more times, pointing to "a systemic pattern of deliberate neglect", NRC said.
The 10 most neglected crises for 2025 are Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Colombia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Honduras, Ecuador, Cameroon, Nigeria and Mozambique, spanning three continents and tens of millions of people.
Gunmen Kidnap 7 Students from School in Northwestern Nigeriahttps://english.aawsat.com/world/5280370-gunmen-kidnap-7-students-school-northwestern-nigeria
Nigerian police personnel restrict protesters from convening for the sixth day of anti-government demonstrations against bad governance and economic hardship, in Lagos, Nigeria August 6, 2024. REUTERS/ Francis Kokoroko/File Photo
Gunmen Kidnap 7 Students from School in Northwestern Nigeria
Nigerian police personnel restrict protesters from convening for the sixth day of anti-government demonstrations against bad governance and economic hardship, in Lagos, Nigeria August 6, 2024. REUTERS/ Francis Kokoroko/File Photo
Gunmen raided an off-campus residence in northwest Nigeria and kidnapped seven students, police said.
The attack occurred early Wednesday in the Kaura Namoda area of conflict-battered Zamfara state, police spokesman Yazid Abubakar said in a statement. One of the students escaped and was in custody, The Associated Press said.
The police spokesman said it wasn't clear where the students were taken but efforts were underway to rescue the remaining six.
Zamfara has been a hotspot for armed gangs that carry out kidnappings for ransom, with abductions of students increasing in recent years across the country.
A tally by local news outlet Premium Times found that at least 1,900 students have been kidnapped from 20 schools since the 2014 mass abduction of over 200 schoolgirls from Chibok in Borno state.
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