TODAY

Who: Manchester United vs Manchester City
What: English Premier League
Where: Old Trafford, Manchester, United Kingdom
When: Saturday, January 17, at 12:30pm (12:30 GMT)
How to follow: We will have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 09:30 GMT, in advance of our text commentary stream.

Michael Carrick will step ‍into the dugout as Manchester United’s interim manager for the first time in Saturday’s Manchester derby at Old Trafford, tasked with steadying a side that has stumbled through another bleak winter – and another change of manager.

City have put behind them their period of discontent, which saw them implode last season in their title defence, and they are once again challengers for the Premier League crown.

Al Jazeera Sport takes a look at one of the biggest games in world football, which sees the rivals in contrasting form.

How have Man Utd fared in the Premier League this season?

United are seventh in the table with one win in their last six league matches – add to that last week’s FA Cup exit, and the ⁠mood is flat on the red side of Manchester.

Carrick’s arrival, however, in the wake of Ruben Amorim’s sacking, brings a flicker of hope.

The former midfielder, who won the full set of major trophies as a United player, certainly does not give the impression of being overawed by the situation.

“I feel in a really good place to be here. It feels very natural, to be honest, very normal,’ he said this week. “I understand the job, what it entails and the responsibility of it.”

What experience does Carrick bring to the Man Utd job?

Carrick had an unbeaten three-game interim spell in charge of United in 2021, but his only long-term experience as a manager was at second-tier Middlesbrough from 2022-25.

He has a contract until the end of the season as United gives itself time to identify candidates to try to end a decade-plus of decline. Carrick has the chance to put himself in the frame in the 17 remaining games this term.

Carrick wants to put smiles on the faces of fans who jeered at the final whistle as United was knocked out of the FA Cup by Brighton last week.

“I want to be off my seat [with excitement],” he said. “I want to be enjoying watching the boys play and results obviously need to come with that. You can feel my kind of enthusiasm for it because I’m buzzing to get started and see what we can do.”

After City, United face a trip to Arsenal. Quite the start for a coach barely experienced at this level and taking on a role that increasingly looks like an impossible job after Amorim became the sixth coach or manager to make way since Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.

How have Man City fared in the Premier League this season?

Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City appear to be returning to somewhere close to their best. For a team that won an unprecedented four Premier League titles in a row, however, they still have some way to go.

City are six points behind Arsenal and second in the league ‍table, despite three consecutive draws.

They are still in the hunt for four trophies and a victorious run – similar to that that saw them lift five trophies in 2023 – cannot be ruled out.

Indeed, City arrive with their own narrative twist with January signing ‍Antoine Semenyo stealing the ⁠headlines.

Two games, two goals, and his own chant from the Etihad faithful, Semenyo has injected a dose of unpredictability into Guardiola’s well-oiled machine.

While City’s three draws cost them precious points in the title race, their recent form suggests they are rediscovering their ruthless edge, with a 10–1 FA Cup demolition of League One side Exeter City and a 2-0 League Cup semifinal win over Newcastle United on Tuesday.

What happened the last time United played City in the Manchester derby?

City demolished Amorim’s United 3-0 in September in the first Premier League meeting of the season.

City’s goal-scoring machine Erling Haaland struck twice in the match at Etihad Stadium, while Phil Foden chipped in with the other.

What happened in the corresponding fixture last season?

Last season’s Premier League encounter at Old Trafford resulted in a dour 0-0 draw on April 6.

United were already long out of contention for their aim of Champions League qualification but City’s place at European football’s top table was still in doubt.

United also had one eye on the upcoming Europa League final against Tottenham, which ultimately ended in defeat.

When did United last beat City in the Manchester derby?

United’s last victory in the derby came last season with a 2-1 win in the Premier League match at Etihad Stadium.

City led, through Josko Gvardiol’s first-half strike, with two minutes remaining of the match, but one of Amorim’s finest hours was to follow.

Amad Diallo netted a late equaliser to the delight of the away support, which soon turned to delirium, though, when Bruno Fernandes netted an injury-time penalty.

Head-to-head

This is the 197th Manchester derby, with the first match coming in the old Second Division in England in 1894, and resulting in a 5-2 win for United at City.

Overall, United have won 79 of the contests with City claiming the spoils on 62 occasions.

Manchester United team news

Harry Maguire is back fit, and Bryan Mbeumo and Amad Diallo return from Africa Cup of Nations duty, adding depth to a squad that has looked threadbare.

Noussair Mazraoui remains at AFCON with Morocco ahead of their final on Sunday, while defender Matthijs de Ligt is injured and forward Shea Lacey is suspended after being shown a second yellow in the FA Cup defeat by Brighton last weekend.

Predicted Manchester United lineup

Lammens; Dalot, Maguire, Martinez, Shaw; Casemiro, Mainoo; Mbeumo, Fernandes, Cunha; Sesko

Manchester City team news

Guardiola is counting on Omar Marmoush’s return from AFCON to shoulder some of the attacking load on “exhausted” Haaland. Marmoush’s Egypt lost 1-0 to Senegal ​in Wednesday’s AFCON semifinals, but City will have to wait for the forward’s return until ‌after the tournament’s third-place playoff on Saturday.

Haaland, who once again tops the Premier League scoring chart with 20 goals, played Tuesday’s full match, including 10 minutes of injury time. He has not scored from open play, however, since their 3-0 win over West Ham United on December 20.

“Hopefully Omar ‌will be back soon to give rest to Erling because Erling is exhausted,” Guardiola said on Tuesday.

Josko Gvardiol, Mateo Kovacic, John Stones, Ruben Dias, Oscar Bobb and Savinho are all absent due to injury.

Predicted Manchester City lineup

Donnarumma; Nunes, Khusanov, Alleyne, O’Reilly; Rodri; Bernardo, Cherki, Foden, Semenyo; Haaland

Authorities order emergency imports of electricity as people struggle in subzero temperatures.

Ukraine’s energy minister has sounded an alarm over the energy situation as Russian strikes ​on the country’s infrastructure leave people shivering in subzero temperatures without heating or power.

Denys Shmyhal, who took office ‍earlier this week, told parliament on Friday that there was “not a single power plant left in Ukraine that the enemy has not attacked”.

Russia, since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, has each winter concentrated fire on the country’s energy infrastructure in a bid to weaken Kyiv’s determination to defend itself and resist Moscow’s far-reaching demands for territory and limits on its military capabilities.

Shmyhal said the most challenging energy situation is in the capital, as well as the regions of Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv and ‍Odesa. Towns near the front line in eastern Ukraine are also filled with thousands of homes that have been without electricity and heating for days in subzero conditions.

“In some cities and regions, winter preparations have failed. Over the past two days in office, I’ve seen ​that many things are clearly stalling,” ‌he said.

The minister has ordered emergency imports of electricity, while declaring that Ukraine needs to install up to 2.7 GW of generation ‍capacity by the end of the year if it is to meet its consumption needs.

“State companies, primarily Ukrainian Railways and Naftogaz, must urgently ensure the procurement of imported electric energy during the 2025-26 heating season, amounting to at least 50 percent of total consumption,” Shmyhal said.

His ministry estimates that Ukraine has fuel reserves ‍for just 20 days. It did not give data on how much electricity Ukraine currently generates or imports, information that authorities have withheld due to wartime sensitivities.

Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko has introduced measures to try to help with the emergency, including reducing overnight curfews to allow people to access central heating and power hubs and extending school holidays in Kyiv until February 1.

Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said ‌the foreign and energy ministries had organised an international appeal for funds to help tackle Ukraine’s energy problems, similar to periodic meetings on arms supplies. ‌Norway, he said, had made an initial grant of $200m.

Russia has attacked the power grid and other energy facilities while pressing a battlefield offensive that has left Kyiv on the back foot as it faces US pressure to secure peace.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Thursday that ‌about 300 apartment buildings in the capital remained without heat after a January 9 attack knocked out heating to half the city’s high-rises.

Kharkiv’s Mayor Ihor Terekhov said Russian ‍forces destroyed a large energy facility in Ukraine’s second-biggest city on Thursday.

He did not specify what sort of facility had been hit, but said emergency crews were working around ​the clock. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attack had left 400,000 people without electricity.

Kharkiv, 25 kilometres (15 miles) from the Russian border, has ‌been regularly targeted by drones, missiles and glide bombs throughout the war.

Record-winners Egypt were one of favourites to add AFCON 2025 to their seven titles but focus turns to World Cup.

Egypt ‌might be disappointed with their failure to reach the Africa Cup of ‍Nations final but coach ‍Hossam Hassan says it has been a good experience ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026 later this year.

Egypt lost in Wednesday’s semifinal to Senegal in Tangier but on Saturday will play Nigeria for the ⁠bronze medal at the tournament in Morocco.

“It has been very good preparation for ​us, we’ve tried several systems of play throughout the tournament and ‍played against different types of opponents,” Hassan said.

“We came close to the final but that’s football,” he said of the 1-0 loss to Senegal.

“Overall, I’m satisfied with all that happened and ‍what we achieved. ⁠We have a good team. We were away from home and did not have a lot of supporters.”

The match against Nigeria would be another opportunity to prepare for the World Cup, he added.

Egypt play in Group G with Belgium first up in Seattle on June 15, New Zealand in Vancouver on June 21 and Iran on June 26 back in Seattle.

Hassan ​said Egypt might have fallen short because of a ‌lack of players at top clubs in Europe, in contrast to the two finalists, Morocco and Senegal, whose squads are filled with players at top European teams.

“Players based in Europe gain better tactical ‌acumen and become physically much stronger, and we need that added value to make us better,” he said.

Egypt’s 28-man squad ‌had only three players based in Europe – captain ⁠Mohamed Salah from Liverpool, Omar Marmoush from Manchester City and Mostafa Mohamed from Nantes in Ligue 1.

“I think [the Nigeria] game gives us a chance to continue preparations, but we always want to win. Egypt ‌always plays to win, we are a team who have won seven Cup of Nations in the past,” Hassan said.

“We will evaluate after the competition where we ‍need to improve. We will study the positive points in order to be much better in both defence and attack,” he added.

When the Trump administration invaded Venezuela and kidnapped President Nicolás Maduro on January 3, the New York Times and Washington Post framed it as a surprise.

In a 2,000-word play-by-play, the Post (1/3/26) called it a “surprise strike” in a headline, and a “secretive operation” in the article. The Times, for its part, dubbed it a “surprise nighttime operation” (1/3/26), noting that “the military took pains to maintain so-called tactical surprise” (1/3/26).

But word quickly got out that it was not a surprise to either paper. Semafor (1/3/26), an outlet co-founded by former Times media columnist Ben Smith, reported that both the Times and Post “learned of a secret US raid on Venezuela soon before it was scheduled to begin,” but chose not to report on it, to “avoid endangering US troops.” Semafor sourced its report to “two people familiar with the communications between the administration and the news organizations.”

Semafor’s reporting didn’t clarify which individuals at each organization were aware of the forthcoming operation, but it wrote that the outlets decided “to hold off their reporting for several hours after the administration warned that reporting could have exposed American troops performing the operation.”

‘Did not have verified details’

The New York Times and Washington Post suppressed the story as Trump continues to crack down on press freedom. Trump has implemented new, restrictive media policies that led major news outlets to give up their news desks at the Pentagon (AP, 10/15/25). The president has filed costly lawsuits against the media, including a $15 billion defamation suit against the Times for multiple books and articles published shortly before the 2024 election (AP, 9/16/25). The Times, meanwhile, is suing what Trump calls the Department of War over its new press policy (New York Times, 12/4/25).

Whether the Times or Post should have exposed the operation is—at the very least—a legitimate question that should be debated in the public forum. And yet the Post has failed to even address Semafor‘s report. Times executive editor Joe Kahn, meanwhile, challenged Semafor’s reporting in a Times morning newsletter (1/12/26) more than a week later.

In response to a reader question, Kahn said that, “contrary to some claims,” the Times “did not have verified details about the pending operation to capture Maduro or a story prepared, nor did we withhold publication at the request of the Trump administration.”

But Semafor‘s report—the only claims that have been publicly made about the Times‘ withholding of information—made no mention of details being “verified,” or a story being “prepared.” It’s highly doubtful that the Pentagon would ever verify such information to a news organization prior to an operation—or that a US corporate news organization like the Times would be so bold as to prepare such a story without permission.

Kahn acknowledged that the Times was “aware of the possibility that that planning could result in new operations,” given its previous reporting and “close contact with sources.” And he admitted that the Times “does consult with the military when there are concerns that exposure of specific operational information could risk the lives of American troops,” but he claimed that was “not relevant in this case.”

Kahn added that “we take those concerns seriously, and have at times delayed publication or withheld details if they might lead to direct threats to members of the military.” He said, though, “in all such cases, we make our editorial decisions independently.”

It might be true that reporting a story about the Venezuela invasion before it happened could have endangered US troops. This is a familiar justification, used by US corporate media to suppress the story of the Bay of Pigs invasion and delay reporting on the NSA wiretapping during the Bush administration, as Semafor noted.

But there is a very real possibility that exposing the operation—for which Trump did not seek congressional approval, and which is widely viewed by international law experts as illegal—could have saved the hundred people who were killed by the airstrikes (New York Times, 1/8/26), including an 80-year-old woman (New York Times, 1/3/26; Washington Post, 1/4/26).

ACTION ALERT:

Please ask the New York Times and Washington Post why they failed to report on the Venezuelan invasion and kidnapping when it could have saved lives. Please ask their specific criteria for delaying significant information they receive, and whether the legality of US actions play any role whatsoever in their consideration.

CONTACT:

New York Times: [email protected] and [email protected] (or via Bluesky @NYTimes.com)

Washington Post: [email protected] (or via Bluesky @WashingtonPost.com)

The views expressed in this article are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Venezuelanalysis editorial staff.

Source: FAIR

Washington seeks improved access to strategic chip industry of island nation, over which China claims sovereignty.

Taiwan and the United States have struck a trade deal that will see the island nation boost tech and energy investments in the US in exchange for lower tariffs.

In a statement announcing the deal late on Thursday, the US Commerce Department said Taiwan’s semiconductor and technology businesses will invest at least $250bn in the US. In exchange, it said Washington will reduce its general tariff on imports of Taiwanese goods from 20 percent to 15 percent.

The deal illustrates an ongoing push by the US to improve access to Taiwan’s semiconductor industry. The island nation holds a dominant position in the supply of the chips used in advanced digital technology across the world and, therefore, a critical component in the global economy, but it faces Chinese claims over its sovereignty.

President Donald Trump announced a 32 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods as part of his sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs last spring, a rate he later lowered to 20 percent.

The Commerce Department said the “historic” deal “will strengthen US economic resilience, create high-paying jobs, and bolster national security”.

In addition to investing $250bn in building and expanding advanced semiconductor, energy, and artificial intelligence production and innovation capacity in the US, Taiwan will provide at least the same amount in credit guarantees for additional investment by its businesses in the US semiconductor supply chain.

Silicon shield

Taiwan stressed that it would remain the world’s main semiconductor supplier.

The island’s chip industry has long been seen as a “silicon shield” protecting it from an invasion or blockade by China – which claims the island is part of its sovereign territory – and an incentive for the US to defend it.

“Based on current planning, Taiwan will still remain the world’s most important producer of AI semiconductors, not only for Taiwanese companies, but globally,” Economic Affairs Minister Kung Ming-hsin told reporters on Friday, the AFP news agency reported.

Production capacity for the advanced chips that power artificial intelligence systems will be split about 85-15 between Taiwan and the United States by 2030 and 80-20 by 2036, he projected.

Reacting to the accord, Beijing expressed its stern opposition.

“China consistently and resolutely opposes any agreement … signed between countries with which it has diplomatic relations and the Taiwan region of China,” China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson said, urging Washington to abide by Beijing’s one-China principle.

The first European troops have arrived in Greenland ahead of exercises that are intended to show the willingness of Denmark and its allies to defend the strategically important island. Greenland is currently the object of intense interest, as President Donald Trump continues to stress its critical role in the defense of the United States. Increasingly, the White House is arguing that U.S. ownership of Greenland is the only alternative to eventual domination by China or Russia. For now, the number of European troops involved is very small and largely symbolic, but that could change in the future.

Late last night, local time, a Royal Danish Air Force C-130J transport landed at Nuuk Airport, where it disembarked an undisclosed number of Danish military personnel, as seen at the top of this story. This advance party will soon be followed by small numbers of troops from France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. They will not be deployed under NATO auspices.

France has said it will deploy around 15 “mountain specialists” to Greenland.

🇫🇷🇬🇱🇩🇰
Every year, French Army mountain commandos deploy to #Greenland for Operation Uppick.
Extreme cold training, long-range raids, autonomy in polar warfare, and scientific research prepare them to operate and fight in one of the world’s harshest environments. pic.twitter.com/INXrCHhTOS

— Tom Antonov (@Tom_Antonov) January 14, 2026

The German Armed Forces is deploying a reconnaissance team of 13 personnel, initially to Copenhagen, before moving on to Greenland alongside Danish personnel.

At 🇩🇰’s invitation, 🇩🇪 will participate in an assessment mission in Greenland, together with other European nations. The aim is to explore the framework conditions for possible military contributions to support 🇩🇰 in ensuring security in the region. 1/2
©️ dpa/imagebroker/elov pic.twitter.com/H6zYnVsVIn

— Germany at NATO (@GermanyNATO) January 14, 2026

Norway and Sweden will send two and three officers, respectively.

Finally, a single British officer will be embedded in the group.

More European military personnel could follow, with the Dutch foreign minister having said that the country is willing to send staff. A decision is due before the end of the week.

Together, the European troops will establish the groundwork for larger-scale exercises that are primarily meant to send a signal to Washington that it is ready and able to defend Greenland.

“The Danish Armed Forces, together with a number of Arctic and European allies, will explore in the coming weeks how an increased presence and exercise activity in the Arctic can be implemented in practice,” the Danish Ministry of Defense said of the upcoming maneuvers.

While the deployment is meant to show strength and resolve, its tiny size, at least initially, could lead Washington to come to the opposite conclusion.

The military security of the island is at the center of Trump’s rhetoric surrounding it.

Greenland and Denmark — of which the island is an autonomous territory — have both repeatedly said the island is not for sale and have expressed alarm about threats of the potential use of U.S. force to acquire Greenland.

Trump’s interest in Greenland is far from new. Back in 2019, TWZ reported on Trump’s claim that his administration was considering attempting to purchase Greenland from Denmark, the U.S. leader noting at the time that the idea was “strategically interesting.”

The topic came back to the forefront at the beginning of the second Trump administration. In early 2025, Trump said he wouldn’t categorically rule out using the U.S. military to take control of Greenland, saying that America needs it — as well as the Panama Canal — for “economic security.”

“The American ambition to take over Greenland is intact,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said today, in comments to Reuters. Frederiksen talked of a “fundamental disagreement,” as he reflected on the meeting of officials from Denmark, Greenland, and the United States at the White House yesterday.

Those talks apparently ended with no solution in sight.

“That is, of course, serious, and therefore we continue our efforts to prevent this scenario from becoming a reality,” Frederiksen added.

Increasingly, Trump is now stating that the future of the island is threatened by China’s and Russia’s ambitions on it. The U.S. president has not ruled out any options to secure it, while stating that, as it stands, Denmark is not strong enough to dissuade Chinese or Russian aggression in the High North.

While China and especially Russia are increasingly projecting their power in the Arctic region, there is little evidence of particular activity around Greenland.

“Two senior Nordic diplomats with access to NATO intelligence briefings told the FT there is no evidence of Russian or Chinese ships or submarines operating around Greenland in recent years, directly contradicting Trump’s justification for U.S. control of the Arctic territory.” pic.twitter.com/ayJZ6xEI31

— Adam Federman (@adamfederman) January 12, 2026

There’s no other way to describe it – Trump is insane.

Greenland’s defense literally consists of two dog sleds. Do you understand? Do you know what their defense is like? Two dog sleds—Trump.

„Meanwhile, you have Russian and Chinese destroyers and submarines scattered across… pic.twitter.com/8O0QRIIJ7W

— Jürgen Nauditt 🇩🇪🇺🇦 (@jurgen_nauditt) January 12, 2026

Having said that, as well as its strategic location, the island is also rich in natural resources, with extensive mineral reserves.

For its part, Russia has said that attempts to identify it as a threat to Greenland are part of anti-Kremlin hysteria and has warned of escalating confrontation in the wider region.

Regardless, there are growing fears in Europe that the standoff over Greenland could threaten the fabric of the NATO alliance.

Several European NATO members have already stated that NATO could be at risk if the United States were to make any kind of effort to seize Greenland.

The U.S. troop presence on the island is currently also fairly small.

Around 200 U.S. troops are stationed in Greenland as of now, according to Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen.

Aside from this, the United States also operates one of its most strategic military outposts in Greenland. This is spearheaded by Pituffik Space Base, the U.S. military’s northernmost installation, a critical node in the U.S. ballistic missile early warning system, and also the world’s northernmost deep-water seaport. You can read in more detail about the U.S. military presence on the island here.

Under a 1951 agreement, the United States can establish military bases in Greenland, something that has also made sense for Denmark, since it benefits from the U.S. capability to defend the island.

The USA already has a defence agreement with Denmark that gives them exclusive and full military access to Greenland. But they are not using it. They have downgraded their presence by 99%.

Now, apparently, they are telling their base that they need to invade and annex Greenland… pic.twitter.com/3b6d5HkuTZ

— Rasmus Jarlov (@RasmusJarlov) January 7, 2026

The new European military presence on the island is even smaller, at least for now, but with larger maneuvers planned there later this year, it could be set to grow. Denmark has said that it plans to increase the number of its own troops permanently based on the island, with these potentially being boosted by rotational deployments by other allies, as in similar initiatives in the Baltic region.

The symbolic value of the initial European troop deployments should not be discounted entirely, however.

It seems clear that the upcoming maneuvers are intended to deliver two messages.

First, that Europe, even outside of the NATO framework, intends to defend Greenland against any kind of military aggression.

Second, Denmark, in particular, is showing the United States that it is responding to its criticism about its limited capacity to protect the island.

Exactly what kinds of maneuvers are going to take place, and on what scale, and what will come after, will depend heavily on the fallout of yesterday’s meeting at the White House.

One outcome of that meeting, which involved U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Rasmussen, and Greenland’s Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt, was a plan to establish a working group to discuss issues relating to the island.

For now, Greenland remains insistent that it has no wish to be governed by, or owned by, the United States. Its future, the government says, remains with Denmark and NATO.

Statement from Greenland’s leader today:

“There is one thing everybody must understand:

• Greenland does not want to be owned by the USA.
• Greenland does not want to be governed by the USA.
• Greenland does not want to be part of the USA.”
—-
Is that clear enough now? pic.twitter.com/iyPHVZtcD2

— Rasmus Jarlov (@RasmusJarlov) January 13, 2026

But as long as the United States continues to eye the territory, the more likely it becomes that Denmark and its regional allies will move to beef up their military presence there. Exactly how much military might will be needed to show the capability to effectively defend the island, at least in the eyes of the White House, is unknown.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

Venezuela’s oil industry has long been a site of struggle—between national sovereignty and foreign control, between social development and extraction for profit.

In a wide-ranging conversation with theAnalysis.News, Venezuelanalysis founder and contributing editor Gregory Wilpert situates today’s crisis in that longer history, from the Chávez government’s effort to reclaim PDVSA for Venezuelans to the current US strategy of tying sanctions relief to oil exports.

As Washington pushes Caracas to increase production and redirect crude away from China, Wilpert examines whether interim leadership in Venezuela is navigating an impossible economic bind—or whether the country’s oil and sovereignty are once again being bargained under coercion.

Israeli forces killed at least 10 Palestinians after the United States announced the launch of the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement.

The U.S. military is looking at replacing all of the different versions of the famous Minigun in service today with a new standardized type that would be designated the GAU-24/A. The iconic six-barrel Gatling-type 7.62x51mm machine gun, capable of firing thousands of rounds per minute, first entered service in the 1960s, and America’s armed forces now have an array of variants spread across their arsenals.

The Program Executive Office for Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons (PEO U&W) within the U.S. Navy’s Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) put out a request for information contracting notice regarding the GAU-24/A plan this week.

“NAVAIR is seeking to identify sources that can manufacture the GAU-24/A machine gun in accordance with a Government-owned Technical Data Package (TDP),” the notice explains. “The GAU-24/A machine gun is intended to serve as the common replacement for all other M134-based weapons, currently being used, throughout the Department of War.”

“Responses to this notice will be used by the Government to determine the appropriate acquisition strategy,” it adds.

A tentative schedule is laid out, which would see the delivery of an initial five GAU-24/As to the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NSWC Crane) in Indiana for testing within 12 months of a contract award. The Navy is currently eyeing the Fiscal Year 2027 timeframe for the start of that work, which could then run for anywhere between 36 and 60 months afterward, at least.

The notice does not include details about the features being sought for this new common Minigun variant or whether existing types could be converted to that standard as part of the replacement process. TWZ has reached out to NAVAIR for more information.

US Marines Firing The Powerful GAU-21 Machine Gun & M134 Minigun – Close Air Support Trainings

There are thousands of Miniguns in the U.S. military’s inventory today, and standardizing them around a common pattern would make sense. Though the different variants that have been developed over the years all look roughly the same externally, there are notable differences between various types, which means that not all components are always interchangeable. This, in turn, creates various logistical and supply chain complexities.

General Electric developed the original Minigun in the early 1960s, leveraging more than a decade of work already at that point on larger caliber Gatling-type guns like the equally famous 20mm Vulcan cannon. The U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army subsequently adopted versions under the designations GAU-2/A and M134, respectively.

The original version of the Minigun had an overall length of around 31 and a half inches and weighed 35 pounds. However, the gun also needed an electrically-driven motor to fire. That motor, along with the different ammunition feeding systems and other components required when the gun was installed in various pods and mounts, added additional weight and bulk. Using external electric power did make it easier to set the gun’s rate of fire for specific applications and allowed for selectable fire rates in certain cases. Typical firing rates for Miniguns, even today, are generally between 3,000 and 6,000 rounds per minute, or 50 and 100 shots every second.

It is worth noting that the Army also experimented in the 1960s with a Minigun powered by propellant gas produced during firing, like many other traditional machine guns. The service did not adopt that version, which was designated the XM133.

The Minigun’s first real combat outing was during the Vietnam War, where the guns were extensively used in armament packages for helicopters, such as UH-1 Huey gunships and early versions of the AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter, as well as in podded form on fixed-wing aircraft. The Minigun was a key feature in the genesis of the AC-47 and later side-firing gunships converted from cargo planes, as well. The A-37 Dragonfly light attack jet also featured a single built-in GAU-2/A. The weapons saw more limited and often non-standard use during that conflict on various ground vehicles and maritime platforms.

Douglas AC-47D Spooky aka “Puff, the Magic Dragon”

Various improvements were subsequently made to the baseline GAU-2/B/M134 design, particularly to the ammunition feed and drive components to improve reliability. General Electric eventually stopped producing Miniguns, and several manufacturers have built them since then.

Dillon Aero Range Day

Specialized lighter-weight versions, some with titanium components, as well as ones optimized for use in maritime environments, especially when it comes to saltwater exposure, have since been developed and fielded by U.S. and foreign forces. Over the years, a maze of designations for different Minigun variants, including GAU-17/A and Mk 49 Mod 0, compounded by related nomenclature for the complete weapon systems many of them are associated with, has emerged. This all underscores why the U.S. military would be interested now in standardizing around a common model.

Minigun variants remain in widespread service today across the U.S. military in a host of aerial, ground-based, and maritime forms. Though they can burn through a large amount of ammunition quickly, the guns offer a valuable way to suppress enemy forces or help break up sudden ambushes, or just saturate an entire area. Miniguns are heavily used on special operations helicopters, watercraft, and ground vehicles, where the benefits they offer are particularly relevant for raids and other shorter-duration direct action missions.

US Navy Special Forces Unleash Awesome Minigun Fire

M134 Minigun fun in Afghanistan

They continue to see widespread use by conventional forces, including in the context of airmobile assaults and combat search and rescue operations, as well. Last year, the Army notably tested a new Minigun mount for the M1 Abrams tank, giving it a boost in firepower for use against targets on the ground and potentially certain aerial threats like small drones.

The Minigun has the additional benefit of firing the same 7.62x51mm ammunition as various machine guns and rifles in U.S. inventory. There has been talk in the past about potentially converting them to fire other rounds, such as new 6.8mm cartridges developed as part of the Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon (NGSW) program that led to the M7 rifle and M250 light machine gun.

Miniguns look set to remain in service in the U.S. military for the foreseeable future, but the total number of variants in America’s arsenal may start to shrink down to just one in the coming years.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

Caracas, January 15, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuela’s Acting President Delcy Rodríguez announced a “partial reform” of the country’s hydrocarbon legislation during the annual “Memoria y Cuenta” speech before the National Assembly on Thursday.

Rodríguez justified the reform with the need to attract investment for Venezuela’s oil industry.

“We have brought a draft of a bill that aims to incorporate the productive models of the Anti-Blockade Law into the Hydrocarbon Law,” she told deputies. “The new investments will be directed to areas where there was no prior investment or no infrastructure.”

The Acting President went on to vow that the government would prioritize social spending and infrastructure works with energy revenues, though she did not offer further details. The legislative project will now be discussed by the National Assembly before being brought up for a vote.

The 2001 Hydrocarbon Law was one of the major early projects in former President Hugo Chávez’s tenure. The legislation reasserted the Venezuelan state’s sovereignty over the oil industry, significantly raising royalties and taxes and mandating that state oil company PDVSA retain majority stakes in joint ventures. The law was a catalyst for the failed 2002 US-backed coup against Chávez.

Venezuela’s National Constituent Assembly (2017-2020) approved the Anti-Blockade Law in 2020 in an effort to skirt US-led economic sanctions. The bill spurred the creation of several business models favoring private investors, including concession-type deals in the oil industry whereby private partners collect a majority of the crude produced.

The oil reform announcement comes amid repeated claims by Washington to take control of Venezuelan crude dealings. Since the January 3 US military strikes and kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the Trump administration has vowed to administer the OPEC member’s oil sales for an “indefinite” period.

On Wednesday, senior Trump officials unveiled the first sales worth US $500 million, with the funds deposited in accounts controlled by the US government. Multiple outlets reported that the main account holding the proceeds is located in Qatar.

One US official described Qatar as a “neutral location where money can flow freely with US approval and without risk of seizure.” On January 9, the White House issued an executive order to shield Venezuelan oil revenues administered by Washington from creditors looking to collect on debts owed by Venezuela.

Democrat politicians quoted by Semafor raised questions about the deal’s transparency and lack of accountability. For its part, the Trump administration has courted oil companies about investing in Venezuela, claiming that they will only “deal” with Washington rather than Venezuelan authorities.

The scope of US control over Venezuelan oil sales, as well as the mechanisms to return proceeds to Caracas, remains unclear, however. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced upcoming sanctions withdrawals or waivers to facilitate transactions.

Commodities traders Vitol and Trafigura have reportedly begun moving a combined 4.8 million barrels of Venezuelan crude to storage hubs in the Caribbean after receiving licenses from the US Treasury Department.

Economics outlet Bitácora Económica reported on Thursday, citing “unofficial sources,” that the Venezuelan Central Bank (BCV) had an account opened in the Qatar National Bank (QNB) where oil proceeds were deposited. According to the same report, the BCV will receive a license to five Venezuelan private banks that will offer US $330 million through foreign currency exchange tables. Healthcare and infrastructure imports will reportedly be given priority. US officials have claimed that only imports from US manufacturers will be allowed.

Venezuela’s Central Bank has been under US Treasury sanctions since 2019. Similarly, Washington has levied wide-reaching unilateral coercive measures against the oil industry, including financial sanctions, an export embargo, and secondary sanctions.

With its military operation and moves to wrest control of Venezuela’s oil sector, the Trump administration has also broadcast its intention to clamp down on bilateral Venezuelan deals with geopolitical rivals such as China. The US Navy has imposed a naval blockade and seized multiple tankers since December in an effort to strong-arm Caracas.

Washington’s unilateral actions saw two Chinese-flagged supertankers turn back amid trips to load Venezuelan oil. In recent years, China has been the main destination for Venezuelan crude and fuel oil exports, with shipments partly used to offset debt from longstanding oil-for-loan deals.

According to Bloomberg, Beijing has sought assurances from Venezuelan and US officials over its loans to the Caribbean nation. The Chinese government reiterated its condemnation of the January 3 US attacks and pledged to “take all necessary measures to protect its legitimate rights and interests in Venezuela.”

We have an incredible set of images to share today from our friend Russell Hill (@Sabian404), an aviation photographer out of the Portland, Oregon area. In fact, I would go so far as say this is the most incredible photo of the U.S. Air Force’s new F-15EX Eagle II in existence.

The image was taken at Portland International Airport (PDX), which also hosts Portland Air National Guard (PANG) Base, whose prominent tenant is the 142nd Fighter Wing/123rd Fighter Squadron, better known as the Redhawks. This celebrated unit was chosen as the first F-15EX operator, rapidly transitioning the Eagle II from testing to operational status. In the process, the Redhawks would give up their 40-year-old F-15C/Ds.

You can read all about the Redhawks and their transition to the F-15EX in this past exclusive feature of ours.

The main image in question, seen at the top of this post, shows an F-15EX, part of RAMBO flight, blasting out of PDX in full afterburner and executing a hard pull-up for a fast climb at the end of Runway 10R. According to Hill, this was a ‘fini-flight’ for one of the 142nd’s pilots. These are usually lively affairs marking the end of a pilot’s military flying career.

It’s worth noting that the use of afterburner by PANG-based F-15s is not a daily occurrence. This is largely due to sound abatement and fuel conservation, as well as the airport’s long runways. But for some missions, like when the alert birds launch, or a functional test flight occurs, or for a special occasion, like this fini-flight, the F-15s rocket down the runway in full reheat, often executing a ‘gate climb’ (a vertical climb roughly over the airport’s grounds) at the end of the runway. This is really something to see, and especially hear, inside the terminal where throngs of weary travelers get a sudden wakeup call as the ruckus literally rattles the windows.

With the 142nd FW still in transition, part of Rambo flight included F-15Cs, which also went out with their cans blazing, one giving a deep wingtip drop to those standing on the base’s apron:

Hill was able to capture the departure on video, too. Check it out below:

These are the key developments from day 1,422 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here is where things stand on Friday, January 16:

Fighting

• A Ukrainian drone attack killed two workers from a state-owned pharmacy as they were transporting medicines to Polohy in a Russian-occupied area of Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region, Russia’s state news agency TASS reports.
• A Ukrainian drone strike injured three people in Russia’s front-line Belgorod region, the regional task force reported, according to TASS.
• Russian forces dropped a guided bomb on Bilopillia, in Ukraine’s Sumy region, killing one person and injuring at least four others, the regional prosecutor’s office said on the Telegram messaging app.
• Ukraine’s Ministry of Energy said that new power outages were affecting customers in the Zhytomyr and Kharkiv regions following an overnight Russian attack. Network restrictions remained in place in the capital Kyiv, the Kyiv region, and the Odesa region, the ministry added in a statement.
• Ihor Terekhov, the mayor of Ukraine’s second-biggest city, Kharkiv, said on Telegram that Russian forces destroyed a large facility of “critical energy infrastructure”, without specifying which type of facility was struck.
• Kateryna Pop, spokeswoman for the Kyiv City Military Administration, said that 287 residential buildings remain without heating in Kyiv more than a week after a massive Russian attack damaged infrastructure there, and as temperatures continue to fall to -17 degrees Celsius (1.4 Fahrenheit) overnight.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the national government would take over responsibility for Kyiv’s energy as the city had not responded quickly enough to the current crisis, according to the Ukrinform news site.
• A Ukrainian attack left close to 87,000 people without electricity in Russian-occupied Zaporizhia, Russian-appointed official Yevhen Balitsky wrote on Telegram.
• Oleksandr Kovalenko, the spokesman for the Zaporizhia Regional Military Administration, said that more than 500 people will need to be evacuated from two districts of Ukraine’s embattled Zaporizhia region by early February, according to Ukrinform. More than 700 people have already been evacuated since the beginning of January, including 480 children, he added.

Politics and diplomacy

• President Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address that “Ukraine has never been and will never be a stumbling block to peace”, appearing to refute comments made by United States President Donald Trump a day earlier.
• “When Russian strikes are aimed at breaking our energy system and our people, it is Russia that must be put under pressure,” Zelenskyy added.
• Trump told the Reuters news agency on Wednesday that he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin was “ready to make a deal. I think Ukraine is less ready to make a deal”.
• International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Kristalina Georgieva told the Reuters news agency during a visit to Kyiv that she expects to ask the fund’s executive board to approve a new $8.1bn lending programme for Ukraine within weeks.

• NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said in a post on X that he had spoken to Zelenskyy “about the energy situation in Ukraine, with Russia’s attacks causing terrible human suffering, as well as on the ongoing efforts to bring an end to the war”.

• “We’re committed to ensuring that Ukraine continues to get the crucial support needed to defend today and ultimately secure a lasting peace,” Rutte said.
• French President Emmanuel Macron said that France is now providing two-thirds of intelligence information to Ukraine, largely replacing the US, which until last year had delivered the majority of those services.

Oil and gas

• Greece’s shipping ministry warned its ships to “take the highest possible security measures” in the Black Sea region, following recent drone attacks on oil tankers there, which Russia has blamed on Ukraine, according to Reuters.
• Russia’s federal budget revenues from oil and gas dropped by 24 percent in 2025 to the lowest level since 2020, according to Finance Ministry data, as oil prices fell while the rouble appreciated.

EPA

Secret discussions

Jeff Overs/BBC

The leak

The sacking

Defection decision

Israel killed at least 10 Palestinians across Gaza, just as the United States announced that the two sides had progressed to the second phase of a 20-point ceasefire deal with Hamas to end the conflict.

The Wafa news agency reported that the Israeli military bombed two houses belonging to the al-Hawli and the al-Jarou families in the central town of Deir el-Balah on Thursday evening, with health officials confirming a 16-year-old minor was among six killed.

The Israeli military announced that one of the victims, Muhammad al-Hawli, was a commander in the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas.

Reporting from Gaza City, Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim al-Khalili confirmed that a “senior figure of the Qassam Brigades” had been killed and that the attack underscored Israel’s message that it would be defining phase two of the ceasefire “on its terms”.

Israel, he said, had set the terms of the next phase of the ceasefire, which will see the establishment of a Palestinian technocratic administration overseen by an international “Board of Peace”, with the option of “escalation” remaining very much “on the table”.

Elsewhere in the war-torn enclave, at least one person was shot dead by Israeli forces near Al-Alam roundabout, west of Rafah city, another person was killed in an Israeli attack on a police post near Al-Nablusi Junction, southwest of Gaza City and two more people were killed in an Israeli air attack on the Al-Khatib family home in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

‘Despicable crime’

Hamas condemned the targeting of the al-Hawli home as a “despicable crime”, saying that it revealed the “contempt” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the October ceasefire, but did not confirm the death of one of its commanders.

At least 451 Palestinians, including more than 100 children, have been reported killed since the ceasefire took effect, with Israel ordering residents out of more than half of Gaza, where its troops remain behind an apparently mobile “yellow line“.

Three Israeli soldiers have been killed over the same period.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff announced in a post on X on Wednesday that the second phase of Trump’s 20-point plan to end the conflict had been launched, “moving from ceasefire to demilitarization, technocratic governance, and reconstruction”.

The next phase would bring “the full demilitarization and reconstruction of Gaza, primarily the disarmament of all unauthorized personnel”, he said, with reference to Hamas, which has so far refused to publicly commit to full disarmament.

The plan also calls for the deployment of an International Stabilisation Force to help secure Gaza and train vetted Palestinian police units.

The 15-member technocratic committee, named the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, will manage day-to-day governance, but leaves unresolved broader political and security issues, including the question of Israel’s post-war withdrawal from the enclave.

Ali Shaath, a former deputy minister in the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, has been appointed to lead the committee, which is now meeting in Egypt to begin preparations for entering the territory, according to the AFP news agency report citing Egyptian state television.

In a recent interview, Shaath said the committee would rely on “brains rather than weapons” and would not coordinate with armed groups.

‘A step in the right direction’

Nevertheless, senior Hamas official Bassem Naim welcomed the establishment of the committee on Thursday, calling it “a step in the right direction” and signalling the armed group was ready to hand over administration of Gaza.

“This is crucial for consolidating the ceasefire, preventing a return to war, addressing the catastrophic humanitarian crisis and preparing for comprehensive reconstruction,” he said.

“The ball is now in the court of the mediators, the American guarantor and the international community to empower the committee,” he added.

The US-proposed Board of Peace is expected to be led on the ground by Bulgarian diplomat and politician Nickolay Mladenov.

The Reuters news agency reported that invitations were sent out on Wednesday to potential Board of Peace members personally selected by Trump.

‘Human remains’ in the rubble

The first phase of Trump’s plan began on October 10 and included a complete ceasefire, the exchange of Israeli captives for Palestinian prisoners, and a surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

However, with Israel having maintained a chokehold on supplies entering the enclave, nearly all of the territory’s more than 2 million people are now struggling to survive winter in makeshift homes or damaged buildings.

As Al Jazeera’s al-Khalili put it, “the situation is going from bad to worse for hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians who heard about the announcement of the second phase of the ceasefire, [with] nothing implemented on the ground”.

Jorge Moreira da Silva, head of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) said that conditions were “inhumane” and called for an acceleration of reconstruction work. “We can’t wait, we can’t procrastinate,” he said on Thursday after a visit to the territory.

Da Silva said the launch of phase two of the Gaza truce plan marked a “historical” opportunity to kick-start reconstruction efforts, which he said would require $52bn, according to an assessment conducted by the World Bank, the UN and the European Commission.

In phase two, Shaath said that the committee would focus on providing urgent relief for Gaza, announcing that he would bring in bulldozers to “push the rubble into the sea, and make new islands, new land”.

According to Shaath, Israel’s full-scale onslaught on Gaza has left about 60 million tonnes of rubble scattered across the enclave, “with unexploded ordnance in the rubble, dangerous waste, and unfortunately also human remains”.

Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has killed at least 71,441 Palestinians since it erupted on October 7, 2023.

The Navy’s top admiral said a recent walk through a Virginia class submarine Command and Control Systems Module (CCSM) under construction offered a vivid glimpse into how the Navy can speed building out the future FF(X) frigate. Having companies, both domestic and potentially foreign, construct modules that can later be plugged into hulls by major shipyards can dramatically increase efficiency, Adm. Daryl Caudle, the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) said. His observations come as the U.S. is struggling to get anywhere nearing catching up to China in the number of naval vessels it is pumping out per year.

The process is called distributed shipbuilding. While not a new concept, it is used on more complex vessels, like SSNs, SSBNs, DDGs and LPDs. Now the Navy is looking to use this concept for its rebooted FF(X) frigate program, Caudle said. He pointed to the construction of Virginia class fast-attack submarines as a prime example of how that works.

“I was just down on the Gulf Coast to see how they build three modules there for Virginia class and they’re going to start building for Columbia as well,”  Caudle told a small group of reporters, including from The War Zone, of his recent visit to the Austal USA shipyard in Mobile, Alabama. The company is building and outfitting CCSMs for three future Virginia class boats and Electronic Deck Modules (EDM) for the Virginia– and Columbia-class nuclear ballistic missile submarine programs.

“One of the main modules they build is the entire Command and Control suite for Virginia class,” he explained during a media panel at the Surface Navy Association (SNA) annual symposium on Wednesday. “And when you see that module… they had one that was almost ready to be shipped up to Quonset Point. It’s like walking into a Virginia class submarine control room. The thing is completely done, built, and the only thing that’s missing is really the computers that we put in for the sonar and fire control system.”

Austal construction of the modules “offloaded hundreds of thousands of man-hours off Electric Boat and utilized additional capacity of that yard to do that,” Caudle said. “So without those types of changes and how we actually optimize all the yards to go do this, it will be challenging.”

While distributed shipbuilding is being eyed for the FF(X) program, the first ship in the class won’t be built that way. The U.S. has a lot of work to do to make that happen for the rest of the class, Caudle posited.

“…there’s going to have to be some paradigm shifts with things like modularity,” the CNO said. “We are, I think, at just the tip of the iceberg on how we’re starting to utilize modularity more effectively.”

In December, the Navy announced it would acquire the frigates, to be built on a design based on the U.S. Coast Guard’s Legend class National Security Cutter. The new warships, the first of which is set to be launched in 2028, are intended to fill the gap left by the cancellation of the abortive Constellation class frigate program.

The FF(X) was launched to provide a quick way to replace the Constellation class, however, the design is controversial because it lacks a vertical launch system for missiles, drastically reducing its firepower, as well as other features. You can read more about that in our story here.

The first FF(X) was awarded to HII/Ingalls on a sole-source basis and scheduled to be launched by 2028. After that, the procurement process will be opened up to competitors.

Caudle says that the distributed shipbuilding approach could spread out the workload from major yards to smaller ones, which are more plentiful. That will help the Navy speed up construction of additional ships in this class, he proffered. This will also help to keep these yards working and decrease the political vulnerability of the program by spreading out the work across different Congressional districts.

“So let’s say that one of the yards down on the Gulf Coast starts building the frigate and they’re the main contract that the Navy goes with for that,” the CNO said. “Nothing prevents other Gulf Coast shipyards—which there are many, I want to say there’s probably 20 plus—from being in the business of building some part or whole of a module for that frigate. And when you bring in the ability of the yard to utilize some of its additional capacity to be part of the modularity design of that, then what you end up with the lead yard is more in an assembly process than having to build it all from scratch.”

Foreign shipbuilders are further along in the process, the CNO noted.

“A lot of the foreign partners that we work with and discuss how they do shipbuilding are really all-in on modularity, and we traditionally have not built ships that way until recently,” he added. “And so I think the actual methodology of the workflow within a shipyard is not completely tuned for a modular approach yet in all of our yards. Until you get there, then the fungibility of the yard to support each other won’t be there. So I’m not completely optimized.”

Foreign shipyards could potentially build modules for the frigate and other ships as well, Caudle postulated. That would be in line with President Donald Trump’s interest in buying ships made abroad to help to make up a yawning gap with China, which has been assessed to have a whopping 200-times larger shipbuilding capacity than the United States.

As we have explained in past reporting, both South Korea and Japan are building vessels now that are related to the Arleigh Burke class, which currently serves as the backbone of the U.S. Navy. This puts both countries in a unique position to build U.S.-spec Burke destroyers, or at least substantial parts of them. They also have other models that are unlike those currently in the fleet, including smaller warships. Logistics ships and sea bases are also well within their capabilities.

“Certainly I do think there’s a role for foreign yards to play in our shipbuilding initiatives to add capacity,” Caudle explained. “I think the capacity that foreign builders could bring to bear is extremely important to think about.”

“That might look like some auxiliary ships that we could get approval to do in totality,” Caudle stated. “And it could be combat ships that can be done in part.”

While foreign shipyards could help the U.S. speed up construction, there are challenges to making that happen.

“When you work with a foreign partner, they either had to have exquisite access to our supply system, and that’s the IT system and the infrastructure to order parts and tap our supply system, or they’re going to use their own indigenous system,” the CNO noted.

A foreign shipbuilder using their own systems, especially those from non-English-speaking countries, adds another layer of complexity, Caudle said.

“So all that needs to be worked out. But I do think that there is it needs to be explored, and I view it as a bridging strategy till we get our industrial base where it needs to be to do it organically.”

Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com

Human Rights Watch, a non-state global organisation defending human dignity, has accused members of armed groups in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), particularly the M23/AFC rebels, as well as the Congolese national army, of committing sexual violence against women.

The independent watch organisation, in collaboration with SOFEPADI, a Congolese women’s rights think tank, resolved that conflict-related sexual violence in eastern DRC has escalated while support to survivors has drastically dropped.

The escalation of violent conflict in North Kivu and South Kivu, and the shrinking charity funds, have resulted in restricted access to healthcare, significantly hindering women and girls experiencing sexual violence from receiving comprehensive support. A number of clinics that once provided essential healthcare and assistance have had to shut down.

“The armed groups and the military forces utilise sexual violence as a war weapon in the eastern DR Congo,” said Ida Sawyer, the Director of the Crises, Conflict and Arms Division of Human Rights Watch. She underlined the fact that “survivors of these atrocious crimes are confronted by a climate of impunity which protects those responsible for the crimes and a health system deprived of accompanying measures”.

Formed in 2012 from a mutiny within the Congolese army, the M23 rebel group has long destabilised eastern DRC, after accusing the country of failing to honour a 2009 peace agreement. The group quickly gained control of territory in North Kivu, including Goma, in 2012. M23 is widely reported to be backed by Rwanda, a claim reinforced by UN reports of Rwandan military involvement. Its pro‑Tutsi identity and alleged foreign support have made it a flashpoint in the Great Lakes region, where ethnic divisions and mineral wealth fuel conflict.

In January 2025, M23 fighters launched a major offensive and captured Goma after days of heavy battles with the Congolese army. The takeover left hundreds of civilians dead and hospitals overwhelmed. Congolese authorities accused Rwanda of deploying thousands of troops to support M23. On February 4, 2025, M23 declared a unilateral ceasefire citing humanitarian reasons, but analysts warn the conflict remains unresolved and tied to control of Congo’s mineral‑rich territories.

In November 2025, Human Rights Watch, in collaboration with the Office of Feminine Solidarity for Peace and Development, a local NGO in Beni and Bunia, interviewed 23 survivors of sexual violence in the northeastern region of the DRC. The researchers interacted with four Congolese survivors in Uganda who had fled from violence in Congo. They recounted scenes of extreme physical violence and their abandonment by local administrative and health authorities who were expected to come to their aid.

Human Rights Watch reported meeting with local health and judicial authorities in Congo, as well as representatives from national and international organisations that assist survivors. The organisation said it has reached out to the US State Department, the spokesperson for the Congolese government, and the leaders of the M23 rebellion to share their findings. However, they reportedly have not yet received a response from any of these entities.

Poll workers are counting ballots cast in Uganda’s contentious general election. President Yoweri Museveni is widely expected to extend his four-decade rule, amid opposition claims of vote rigging. Al Jazeera’s Catherine Soi visited a polling station in Kampala.

Antonio Guterres appears to take aim at the US, which recently slashed its contribution, telling the UN to ‘adapt or die’.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has lashed out at world leaders he accused of turning their backs on international cooperation amid “self-defeating geopolitical divides” and “brazen violations of international law”.

Addressing the UN General Assembly on Thursday, the UN secretary-general slammed “wholesale cuts in development and humanitarian aid”, warning that they were “shaking the foundations of global cooperation and testing the resilience of multilateralism itself”.

“At a time when we need international cooperation the most, we seem to be the least inclined to use it and invest in it. Some seek to put international cooperation on deathwatch,” he said.

Last annual speech

The secretary-general, who will step down at the end of 2026, held off naming offending countries, but appeared to refer to deep cuts to the budgets of UN agencies made by the United States under the “America First” policies of US President Donald Trump.

While other countries have also cut funding, the US announced at the end of last year that it would be allocating only $2bn to United Nations humanitarian assistance, representing a small fraction of the leading funder’s previous contributions of up to $17bn.

Trump’s administration has effectively dismantled its primary platform for foreign aid, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), calling on UN agencies to “adapt, shrink or die”.

Setting out his last annual list of priorities as secretary-general for the year ahead, Guterres said the UN was “totally committed in the cause of peace in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and far beyond and tireless in delivering life-saving aid to those so desperate for support”.

The UN chief insisted humanitarian aid be allowed to “flow unimpeded” into Gaza, said no effort should be spared to stop the Russia-Ukraine war, and urged a resumption of talks to bring about a lasting ceasefire in Sudan.

Those three deadly, protracted conflicts have come to define Guterres’s time at the helm of the UN, with critics arguing the organisation has proved ineffective at conflict prevention.

The organisation’s top decision-making body, the Security Council, is paralysed because of tensions between the US, Russia and China, all three of which are permanent, veto-wielding members.