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Massive explosions caused by a drone strike at a market in the Darfur region near Sudan 's border with Chad on Thursday killed four people and wounded over two dozen civilians, a medical group said.

Iran’s new supreme leader issued his first message Thursday through Iranian state media and did not appear on camera or read the statement — a move that reveals he was wounded, a CNN correspondent said. CNN international reporter Nick Paton Walsh signaled that Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, could be seriously injured as a result of the U.S.-Israeli strikes that killed his father and left several of his other family members dead. "It's what we didn't hear and what we didn't see," Paton Walsh said. "We didn't hear much Mojtaba Khamenei's voice and we did not see his face and we did not see this statement delivered on video," Paton Walsh explained. "And while it's important to point out that we have no evidence that he is incapacitated or deceased, this was a key moment where Iran really, I think, had to meet the doubts as to his health and his capacity to govern. It's clear that he has been injured in some way the part of the speech he talked about the loss of his wife, his sister, those close around him and how he visited the body of his deceased father. This is the man who President Trump has said he does not want to lead Iran, and his appointment clearly a way of hard liners thumbing their nose ultimately back at the White House."Mojtaba is not from a clerical background like his father and has not appeared on any video or in public view since the attack. "We are hearing a big vacuum still at the top of Iranian leadership," Paton Walsh said. "Here's a message, seven chapters, read on state television by a female anchor, no sign of him, no sign of his voice and the moment for the proof of life that many need, or proof of health, not met."

During a discussion on Iran’s leadership going on the offensive with new threats after being attacked by the United States, MS NOW analyst David Rohde explained that Iran has a strategy and the strategy is working because Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon has been shown to be unprepared.With US military officials conceding that they cannot protect oil tankers attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, Rohde claimed the war-torn country, for the moment, has the upper hand.“It's shocking to me what's happening in the Strait of Hormuz, how effective the Iranian military is,” he stated before conceding, “And I don't understand it.”“We have a very large navy, and if we're going to go to war with Iran, we should be aggressive in sort of using our Nav,y” he elaborated. “And this is where, just in the last, I would say, 48 hours, I wouldn't say the war overall is somehow turning in Iran's favor, but it's definitely shifting. They've found their footing there.”“They're stopping the most important route for energy to get to the rest of the world, 20 percent of the world's supply and it amazes me that the US military has no answer to that,” he observed. - YouTube youtu.be

Company that runs the sites says it has ‘no reason to believe there is a correlation between the donors’ passing and plasma donation’Two people have died in Canada after donating plasma at a chain of clinics that has been under scrutiny by federal inspectors for failing to keep accurate records, screen donors or maintain its machines.While experts say the deaths are exceedingly rare, critics say Canada’s embrace of private companies to handle blood products reflects a “slow collapse of a system that has been the envy of the world”. Continue reading...

Countries across the continent have spent more than $2bn on Chinese tracking technology that is not ‘necessary or proportionate’, new report findsThe rapid expansion of AI-powered mass-surveillance systems across Africa is violating citizens’ right to privacy and having a chilling effect on society, according to experts on human rights and emerging technologies.At least $2bn (£1.5bn) has been spent by 11 African governments on Chinese-built surveillance technology that recognises faces and monitors movements, according to a new report by the Institute of Development Studies, which warns that national security is being used to justify implementing these systems with little regulation. Continue reading...

Viral video of girl being shoved by fellow pedestrian has reignited debate over butsukari – with experts blaming stress and gender dynamicsIt starts out as a heartwarming clip. A young girl, clearly delighted to be in Tokyo, beams as she makes a peace sign to the camera. Seconds later, she is shoved to the ground from behind by a woman wearing a surgical mask. The assailant doesn’t skip a beat, striding out of shot of the clip filmed by the girl’s mother.This was no accidental clash of shoulders in a crowded place, but one of the most visible examples of a spate of butsukari otoko – “bumping man” – shoving incidents in Japan that experts attribute to a combination of gender dynamics and the stresses of modern life. Continue reading...

From fuel caps to four-day work weeks, the Middle East conflict has left the world’s top crude oil importing region desperate to shore up suppliesDonald Trump has scrambled in recent days to reassure the world that the economic impact of his war on Iran can be contained.Sure, one of the most important waterways in global trade has, in effect, been shut for almost two weeks – but it might reopen before long. In the meantime, US oil-related sanctions on “some countries” will be lifted. And besides, the entire conflict could be over soon. Continue reading...

New legislation will require schools to use Mandarin by default, taking priority over minority ethnic languages such as Tibetan, Uyghur and MongolianChina’s National People’s Congress (NPC), the state legislature, will vote on Thursday on a suite of new laws agreed at this year’s annual two sessions gathering, including a piece of legislation that will diminish the role of minority ethnic languages in the education system.NPC delegates are expected to approve a new ethnic unity law, along with a new environmental code and the 15th five-year plan, the economic planning document for 2026-2030. Delegates have spent the last week debating Beijing’s proposed bills, which they are all but certain to approve. The NPC, which is often described as a rubber-stamp parliament, has never rejected an item on its agenda. Continue reading...